Ezma

Right back at ya Tap. Healthy New Year to all of you! I'm determined to make 2009 a great year and that includes getting back on track and losing some more weight. I'll be here each and every day again and hope I can help inspire you guys as much as you inspire me. So far the morning has gone well just a little behind schedule. I've got to get my exercise worked back into a routine but it will happen soon. Look how far we've already come. Celebrate our success. We can do it this year. Yes we can!

It's a date! This time of year is so crazy busy but I'll be ready to go in January. Want to wish everyone a very happy holiday too.

Congrats Shiny!!!! That is such a fantastic milestone. What are you going to do to celebrate? Hope it's something great because you really earned it.

I'm not gonna make a pound related goal for two reasons - can't decide what would be realistic and when I do, I sabotage myself and fail. So instead I will vow to get back to healthy eating, to get my calories intake back in line at about 1200 or less calories a day. That should let the pounds take care of themself. I also vow to get back to my daily exercise routine. It has really slipped and I have no excuse. I am on leave from work for 3 weeks and I have plenty of time for exercise now. Yay! Love this thread. It's the optimism and group morale I need. Thank you all.

Congrats Cynthia!!! That's such a major accomplishment. You should be so proud of yourself for all your dedication and commitment to a healthier you. Yay!

Wow, this makes me so sad. Where the heck is everyone? Guess we're all super busy at this time of year. Would be nice if everyone would just do a quick check in and hello here. Thinking of you all and wishing you a very happy holiday.

Well it's been an interesting month for me. I went to the doctor last Tuesday for a check up. I was up 12 pounds in 4 weeks. How the hell do you do that!?!!!! I knew it was coming, I mean, I have a scale, but holy crap. Anyway, they were so nice which was exactly what I needed. They were understanding and encouraging. The doctor wants to see me right after New Years again so I have an appointment on 1-6-09. It will be less than 4 weeks and he just wants me to try to keep the gain to only a couple pounds. Whatever it was they did must have helped a lot cause I've lost 5 pounds and didn't even know it until I weighed myself last night just to be sure I wasn't gaining too much. Yay!!!! Now if I can just get a few more off before I go back to see him I'll be so happy.

Hey Blessed. I feel your pain my dear, feel it well. It's so hard for me to even care about losing weight and being healthy right now. It will work itself out in time just try to hang in there until you can feel motivated again. If you can keep it to no loss/no gain you'll be doing great. Very sorry to hear things are rocky there. You'll do what's right for you and the kids now. I'll glad you're standing up for what you need in a relationship and family. Even though it hurts like hell, it will be much better in the future, one way or another. Hang in there and know many of us will be thinking of you and praying for you.

I'm right there with ya. The simple carbs pack it on me like nothing else can. I'm still eating all the wrong things but it's cut back a lot. Not much ice cream here but eating plenty of cookie. I'm finally off the scone kick...I think/hope. We can make it through the holiday season without completely bloating up!!!

Just wanted to say hi to everyone and encourage you to keep up the good fight against to bulge. Things have been really hectic for me and I haven't been posting much - sorry. My husband was in the hospital for 11 days in November, got out the Friday before Thanksgiving, then we had in-laws in town, my birthday, tons of doctor's appointments and yesterday he had gamma knife surgery. I would hope things will slow down but I know they won't. We have my husband's birthday coming up in a week with his big birthday party the day before, lots of preparations for that, then I need to finish the Christmas stuff, decorate and in between all that we have more doctor's appointments, a thyroid scan which I have to put him on a low iodine diet next week for it. Okay, I'm stressing myself out just typing this. LOL Mainly I just wanted to say hi to you all. I'm thinking about you and wishing you many losses. Hang in there guys. I think the new year will really help us a lot. It's the time everyone focuses on being healthier and that will help me out immensely.

Oh Rhap, take the pound every two weeks and praise it. It seems take most of our weight loss has slowed way, way down, stopped or in some cases, like mine right now, reversed to a gain. You're doing great and even just 2 pounds a month off will get you to your goal over time. I am also enjoying shopping much more this year. It's so much easier to move thru the crowds and I don't get tired nearly as fast as I used to before lap band. I just need to find more time to actually get things done or we'll miss Christmas.

Congrats Audrey!!! That is really fantastic. You have inspired me again. Please let me make it thru the day with nothing but good eating. I wanna have a post like this one day too. And come on out of your shell - especially here it will be easy.

Seems like many of us are past the honeymoon phase with our bands. Now we're into the true marriage phase and like a real marriage it's gonna take work to make it succeed. Damn it. Where did my drive go? I'm just trying to hang on thru the holidays. I know this is always a tough time for me and I do know that it will be much easier to recommit after Christmas and New Years. Hang in there guys. We can make it! We've shown we can do it but right now the battle is a bit of a grind.

My Christmas goal has changed a bunch in the last month. I wanted to get another 6 pounds off to bring it to 120 pounds down from my highest. Now I'd be happy to just quick gaining, eat healthy 80% of the time or just get my daily calories under 1200. I'd love to lose the 9 pounds I put back on but I'm thinking that might be a bit much with 24 days to go and not much willpower. Just to give you an idea of how bad it is, I'm typing this while eating pizza and getting ready for some pie. Egads, I'm so out of control! I do feel like I'm close to ready to get back on track though. Guess it was just something I had to go through.

It really is insane isn't it? Why do we have this self-destructive behavior. I know I'm totally out of control and it's really starting to worry me. I'm so afraid of undoing everything I worked so hard to accomplish. Maybe it's just a holiday thing since so many of us are having the same problems. That or maybe it's a 9 month phase. Who knows. I'm just wishing for all of us to have a good holiday season with few pounds to lose a second time. Control, we can have it.

Hope your day was fantastic. Hope you were able to keep your eating moderate. Hope there was lots of family, food, friends and fun. I had a lovely day. My husband's mother and brother came in on Wednesday and we had Thankgiving at my parent's house with my brothers and their families too. Was a long but fun day. I ate way too much. Ate a lightly full plate of food but at least half of it was veggies. I also ate a cupcake and a piece of apple strusel cheesecake. Overall it wasn't too bad, not good but it could have been so much worse. I have developed a horrible addiction to pumpkin scones from Whole Foods. Hope that goes away soon. I've basicallly decided I just need to try to reduce the damage to minimal levels until after Christmas. I think things will be pretty tough for me until then. Let me know how your Thanksgiving was and if you managed to maintain your new eating style.

Rhapsody - It's great to see you around again. Sorry to hear about your overfill problem. That doesn't sound fun at all. Keep on swimming. I've been away for a couple days. We had my husband's mother and his brother here for Thanksgiving and I couldn't get to my computer at all. That's a first.

I'll take a lecture or kick in the butt too please. Everyone has been so nice and said it's understandable that I'm eating crappy. Well, it is but that doesn't change the fact that it's still self-destructive and I really need to get a grip. I keep trying to use the "Your son needs you to be healthy" one but it's not been completely effective yet.

Yay Tap! I'm really want to have a day I can say I was good. Yesterday was going so well until I got lunch stuck and had a horrible episode of PB, sliming and some heaving. I figured I better eat liquids after that so...well, ice cream is liquid and the cold should be soothing, right? Today was going good, then the pumpkin scones from Whole Foods called me. That's like half my daily calories in one thing. But if that's the worst part of today I'll consider it a victory. I'm so afraid I will end up gaining since my last appointment (I'm already up 4 pounds) and the doc will want to fill me. I don't think I can handle a fill. I'm just eating bad foods, not really too much food. Funny thing is that I fully intend to enjoy Thanksgiving dinner and it will probably be the best diet day I've had in a long time. LOL

Horrible, but better than I was doing. It's getting better slowly. I did have a horrible episode of being stuck today. Big time PB and slime, plus heaving. I'm gonna take a day or two of fluids so i'm in fighting shape for thanksgiving.

Oh guys, I understand so well what you're talking about. It's like I'm trying to sabotage myself and sometimes I just don't care. I really think it's a physical response sometimes and not just psychological. I know my issue with simple carbs is physical, it's very much like an addiction. However...... I AM STRONGER THAN MY CRAVINGS!!

Welcome to the family of bandsters. You're gonna love it. The band works for you when you work with it. And keep in mind that you won't have good restriction for several months so you will have to work hard at what you eat until the band can help you out more. An NSV is a Non-Scale Victory. It's anything that isn't pounds you lost. Might be a friend not recognizing you from the back, fitting into theater seats better, etc. For me the weight started coming of 2 weeks prior to surgery with the pre-op diet. I lost 16 pounds then and after that it was 10-12 pounds a month for the first 6 months. Then it slowed down a bit to about 8 pounds a month. Now I'm having trouble but I have some issues going on and should be back to dropping soon. I had just over 200 pounds to lose though so I was losing it a bit faster than you would if you had less to lose. Good luck and enjoy your new life. Always remember that the band is only a tool and you have to do the work, it just makes it easier.

Yep, you can say it. I really do want to get back on track again. I'm very fortunate to have a super supportive family. It will help a lot having him here. Sounds like you guys have been doing really well with your craving for the most part. Keep it going. I want on the "kickin' our cravings" train.

Yay hubby is home!!!!! Boo healthy eating begins in the AM.

Welcome back Nikki. We can't give you a fill, though I wish I could, but we can help you stay motivated until you can get it. I really need to get back on track myself. I've gained 3 pounds, 5 from my lowest weight and I want them back off.