KelinTx

No mention of giving up caffine was ever given to me. Therefore ive remained a coffee drinker since the day after surgery without one problem thank god!

So impressed with everyones victories! I soon hope to join this club. Im slowly but surely inching closer.

YES i am also a firm believer that a 200 pound weight loss is indeed possible!

I actually had to move the seat closer to the stearing wheel in the car this AM. It officially does not have to be the whole way back to accomodate my stomach anymore! WOOOHOOOOO

I think plateaus are the bodys way of adjusting to the new weight! Hang in there the scale will eventually move! Someone once told me that the weeks the scale is not moving are the weeks the inches fall off!

Insurance paid for my band and continues to pay for my fills.

At 16 months out i consider myself to have been quite successful and have been a consistant loser. For me thus far moderation has always been the key as far as food is concerned. I still eat what i want (with the exception of bread and beef) only FAR FAR FAR FAR less. I find that if i keep in tune to my sense of restriction and try and head in for fills when that feeling is lost that my pattern of losing remains consistant. Ive had minor set backs along the way (10 lb vacation gain in ONE WEEK!), holliday weight gains and so forth but i always GET RIGHT BACK ON TRACK. I weigh my self every day at the same time each day and very rarely does a day go by when i dont drink a minimum of 50oz of water. I would probably be further along then i am if i was more of an avid exerciser, but i try an do what i can when i can. Ive never had one problem with my band thus far and IM LOVING IT! I still have a ways to go but im in it for the long haul. Good luck to you.

I LOVE BREAD........but i HATE the horrid pain it causes me, feels like someone pressing down on my sternum with a brick with all their might. And my meal is ruined after that. Was a hard hard lesson to learn after many a painfull episode. Im filled to 9.6 in a VG 11 band and guess bread is no longer for me.

I had the topping off a few nachos from on the border! Was heaven to chew again!

Curious to know if anyone has had plastic surgery deemed medically necessary by a proffesional and has it covered by insurance?

6 pounds till 199.........gonna be the longest 6 pounds of my life!

Boy i gotta say that show does the same thing to me! I see those women on there that weigh more then me but yet i look at myself and say SOMETINGS wrong here i dont weight that much but i look bigger i feel!

Brick girl.........you and i are the same age! I have the VG size 11 band im currently filled to 9.6 ..... Ive been very conservative with my fill amounts, ive had a total of 8 so far. I read this site religiously and came to the personal decision that id rather not encounter any of the problems that come with being overfilled. So my fills were in very small incriments. Fortunatly after each one i was able to feel restricted enough to lose a considerable amount of weight before i lost the feeling of restriction. Ive only ever had to PB twice since my journey started, never have expierenced reflux or any problem whatsover. Good luck with your band!

Reading through this thread has always been a great motivator for me and has given me the I CAN DO IT attitude! I just want to wish everyone good luck in their journeys.

Today the realization hit me that with out a surgical intervention to remove excess skin i don't see how in the world im ever going to be able to reach that 200 pounds lost mile stone! Im so thrilled with my results thus far. Guess i better save my pennies for surgery, play the lotto or drive around behind armored trucks and hope that one spews money all over me!

YES......its been nothing but a POSITIVE expierence for me from the get go. The hard part for me now is the realization that without plastic surgery to remove excess skin i dont know if i will ever be able to reach that 200 lb loss mile stone!

I lost really fast at first. Now that im 16 months out from being banded its taking much longer to drop the pounds!

WOOHOO im so excited......i just bought a pair of size 16 jeans!! Down from a size 32. I LOVE MY BAND

I also lost a massive amount of hair. However i did not start to lose any till i was 7 months out from my surgery. I continued to lose hair for 6 months (thank god i had a ton of hair to begin with). Finally after all this time i can see the new regrowth. I think its just a matter of saying hey its gonna happen and just wait out the process knowing it will eventually taper off.

Never have had a problem with shrimp in any way shape or form. Love it and eat it often.

Does anyone know if it is safe to do a colon cleanse or have a colonic when being banded?

Im staying on plan today because i simply must get under 200lbs by the time spring break rolls around and i hafta prance around the beach in a bathing suit beside my daughter in her bikini!

I will have been banded 16 months next week and have PB'd only two times. One was just last week. Will not be having burger meat again for quite some time after that. I am very aware of not taking that last bite that will push me over the edge into pb land, ill avoid it at all costs.

A good site to shop at for really LOW prices is bcoutlet.com . Its the clearance of lanebryant catalog, jessica london and romans.

What did it for me was excrutiating back pain at merely walking a few steps. And hating the fact that i would wait till it was dark outside to walk to the curb to the mail box so that no one would see me and huffed an puffed the entire short distance.