trina4ufl

I've been at 239 for the past two days. I'm really excited about being under 240. I don't even remember being in the 230's, that's how long ago it was. I was 240 after I dieted in college. I might have been around there when I started college. Everyone has been telling me how thin I look (It's relative, but still, I'll take it!) I'm in a good groove right now. My restriction has actually loosened up, but for me, that's actually been a good thing. I realize that when I'm too tight, I feel like I'm malnourished or that I need to be eating but I can't and it makes me eat crappy food. Right now, I can eat, but I'm not hungry alot and I get full quickly. I've been eating healthy and going to the gym. It's going great! I found out that the job I'm applying for is between me and one other person. Now I've decided that I really want the job, so wish me luck! I should now something in about a week or two. It will mean more income and if I leave my current job, I'll get my leave paid out, so I'll finally be able to pay off all my hospital and doctor bills. My boyfriend and I are getting along well and I'm looking forward to spending time with him this weekend. He usually works all weekend, but he has Saturday off, so we're going to a friend's cookout and doing some other fun stuff. I can't wait!:smile:

My fill is still holding, though it's loosened up a bit. I'm struggling with trying to eat more healthy, as my weight has stayed the same the past two weeks. I've also been slacking on going to the gym as I had last week off work and spent three of the days hanging out with my boyfriend and the rest of the week visiting my parents. I'm hoping if I'm diligent at the gym and eat healthy, I should lose more. I am pretty much where i want to be restriction-wise. I'm also just past the 6 month mark, so I want to kick it up so I continue to lose at least 10 pounds per month if possible. NSV: I've been getting alot of random people asking me how I've lost weight and telling me how good I look. My mom and I went to breakfast in Orlando and this waitress who I didn't really recognize went on and on about how great I look. I told her about the band. I'm feeling more open about it now. I think I mentioned that I told my boyfriend and he's fine with it. The only issue is that my fill was so super tight before I could barely eat anything so now he's used to me eating practically nothing and I feel bad if I'm hungry around him. I'm not sure why. I have no clothes that look good on me and I'm in a weird place with sizes. Sometimes I wear a size 18 regular in pants. 16W's fit the other day, but the tops are weird. I either wear a 1x or 18 or sometimes a 2x if it's cut small. I got to hear that one of my boyfriend's friends made a negative comment about my weight, which made me feel like crap. My self-esteem is very day by day. Some days I feel great, other days I feel like a blob still. It doesn't help that my boyfriend is super scrawny. He's tall, but really skinny and I'm by far the biggest girl he's ever dated. As far as the band, it's great. I just need to keep my head on straight.

My fill is still holding, though it's loosened up a bit. I'm struggling with trying to eat more healthy, as my weight has stayed the same the past two weeks. I've also been slacking on going to the gym as I had last week off work and spent three of the days hanging out with my boyfriend and the rest of the week visiting my parents. I'm hoping if I'm diligent at the gym and eat healthy, I should lose more. I am pretty much where i want to be restriction-wise. I'm also just past the 6 month mark, so I want to kick it up so I continue to lose at least 10 pounds per month if possible. NSV: I've been getting alot of random people asking me how I've lost weight and telling me how good I look. My mom and I went to breakfast in Orlando and this waitress who I didn't really recognize went on and on about how great I look. I told her about the band. I'm feeling more open about it now. I think I mentioned that I told my boyfriend and he's fine with it. The only issue is that my fill was so super tight before I could barely eat anything so now he's used to me eating practically nothing and I feel bad if I'm hungry around him. I'm not sure why. I have no clothes that look good on me and I'm in a weird place with sizes. Sometimes I wear a size 18 regular in pants. 16W's fit the other day, but the tops are weird. I either wear a 1x or 18 or sometimes a 2x if it's cut small. I got to hear that one of my boyfriend's friends made a negative comment about my weight, which made me feel like crap. My self-esteem is very day by day. Some days I feel great, other days I feel like a blob still. It doesn't help that my boyfriend is super scrawny. He's tall, but really skinny and I'm by far the biggest girl he's ever dated. As far as the band, it's great. I just need to keep my head on straight.

I went to the doctor for a follow up appointment and I'm down another 8 pounds. I weigh 246 now. I feel pretty good about how I'm starting to look except for my stomach. If I wear pants that fit, they push my spare tire up. I'm still carrying way too much weight in my stomach and chest, but I'm hoping after another 50 pounds or so, it'll flatten. The doctor said I'm either too tight or just right. He gave me the option of having some taken out, but I opted to try to work with this fill. I can't eat much at all during the day--some yogurt and coffee, and then dinner is hit or miss. If I have hot soup first, I'm usually good. He said that I can call him anytime if I feel I want to have some taken out, and scheduled my next appointment for 8 weeks since he says I'm doing great and don't need to come every month. I do need to work on the protein. I haven't been getting enough in. My hair loss has slowed, but my hair is all kind of broken and uggh. I bought 2 new pairs of jeans and 2 shirts. All in size 18 (still plus size). I feel better because I feel like a slob wearing all my old clothes because they are really baggy and don't look good. I'm feeling much better. Things with my boyfriend are going really well and I'm looking forward to having the whole week off work next week. Yay!!!

I went to the doctor for a follow up appointment and I'm down another 8 pounds. I weigh 246 now. I feel pretty good about how I'm starting to look except for my stomach. If I wear pants that fit, they push my spare tire up. I'm still carrying way too much weight in my stomach and chest, but I'm hoping after another 50 pounds or so, it'll flatten. The doctor said I'm either too tight or just right. He gave me the option of having some taken out, but I opted to try to work with this fill. I can't eat much at all during the day--some yogurt and coffee, and then dinner is hit or miss. If I have hot soup first, I'm usually good. He said that I can call him anytime if I feel I want to have some taken out, and scheduled my next appointment for 8 weeks since he says I'm doing great and don't need to come every month. I do need to work on the protein. I haven't been getting enough in. My hair loss has slowed, but my hair is all kind of broken and uggh. I bought 2 new pairs of jeans and 2 shirts. All in size 18 (still plus size). I feel better because I feel like a slob wearing all my old clothes because they are really baggy and don't look good. I'm feeling much better. Things with my boyfriend are going really well and I'm looking forward to having the whole week off work next week. Yay!!!

Okay, I'm gettting some new motivation. I've been hovering between 251 and 253 this week. Not bad considering I'm on a mini vacation from work and I am finally able to eat as my band has loosened up a bit. I'm determined to get under 250 (on my home scale!!). I bought a tennis racquet and two sets of tennis balls as I only had one racquet and I'm trying to convince some of my friends to play tennis with me in the evenings. I'm kind of burned out on the gym, and singles tennis is great exercise and I like to play competitive games. The only problem is that none of my friends actually play tennis, hence me buying an extra racquet. But I figure even if we chase the balls around, it's good exercise. The weather however has not been cooperating. It has been raining hard for 2 weeks straight. Even if it's not raining, the ground is so wet, it's sure to mean soggy tennis balls. I'm hoping it clears up this week so I can add evening tennis to my activities. I plan to go to the gym regularly this week, add in tennis and walking the dog, and go through my closet. Literally 90% of the clothes I own I cannot wear due to them being way too big. This is a great feeling, but also leaves me with nothing to wear. I went to Macy's for their memorial day sale and bought three shirts and a pair of pants for $50. I am in an 18W in the plus size in the tops and bottoms, though the pants are kind of big on me. As for eating, I need to log my food this week, and eat protein, protein, protein! I still have good restriction, so I should lose weight if I eat enough protein each day and exercise. I also am determined to get out of this loneliness/boredom funk by keeping my schedule busy exercising, cleaning out my closet, and I also bought a new book to read. I told my boyfriend I thought we should cool out for like a week because I've been really emotional and have been bitchy with him. He doesn't understand and asked why I can't talk to him if there's something stressing me out in my life. I plan to tell him about the surgery when we have some time alone together--which we haven't lately. We've spent alot of time together, but it's been with friends and his famly around. The time has come to tell him, I just HATE talking about weight with a boyfriend and it's very awkward for me to bring up the surgery. I also have no idea what his reaction will be or how I'm going to bring it up. I have to go back to work tomorrow, which I'm not really looking forward to, though it will give me structure and hopefully keep me busy so I get out of this loneliness/boredom funk. I work the rest of this week, all of next week, and then I'm off for a week. I don't really have any plans, as my money is tight. I'm hoping to use it as a time to get grounded and just focus on myself and get myself together. I need to get back to being the productive, motivated, happy person that I have been, and not this emotional, needy, anxious, person that I seem to have become the last couple of weeks. I need to keep focused on my goals!!!!

Okay, I'm gettting some new motivation. I've been hovering between 251 and 253 this week. Not bad considering I'm on a mini vacation from work and I am finally able to eat as my band has loosened up a bit. I'm determined to get under 250 (on my home scale!!). I bought a tennis racquet and two sets of tennis balls as I only had one racquet and I'm trying to convince some of my friends to play tennis with me in the evenings. I'm kind of burned out on the gym, and singles tennis is great exercise and I like to play competitive games. The only problem is that none of my friends actually play tennis, hence me buying an extra racquet. But I figure even if we chase the balls around, it's good exercise. The weather however has not been cooperating. It has been raining hard for 2 weeks straight. Even if it's not raining, the ground is so wet, it's sure to mean soggy tennis balls. I'm hoping it clears up this week so I can add evening tennis to my activities. I plan to go to the gym regularly this week, add in tennis and walking the dog, and go through my closet. Literally 90% of the clothes I own I cannot wear due to them being way too big. This is a great feeling, but also leaves me with nothing to wear. I went to Macy's for their memorial day sale and bought three shirts and a pair of pants for $50. I am in an 18W in the plus size in the tops and bottoms, though the pants are kind of big on me. As for eating, I need to log my food this week, and eat protein, protein, protein! I still have good restriction, so I should lose weight if I eat enough protein each day and exercise. I also am determined to get out of this loneliness/boredom funk by keeping my schedule busy exercising, cleaning out my closet, and I also bought a new book to read. I told my boyfriend I thought we should cool out for like a week because I've been really emotional and have been bitchy with him. He doesn't understand and asked why I can't talk to him if there's something stressing me out in my life. I plan to tell him about the surgery when we have some time alone together--which we haven't lately. We've spent alot of time together, but it's been with friends and his famly around. The time has come to tell him, I just HATE talking about weight with a boyfriend and it's very awkward for me to bring up the surgery. I also have no idea what his reaction will be or how I'm going to bring it up. I have to go back to work tomorrow, which I'm not really looking forward to, though it will give me structure and hopefully keep me busy so I get out of this loneliness/boredom funk. I work the rest of this week, all of next week, and then I'm off for a week. I don't really have any plans, as my money is tight. I'm hoping to use it as a time to get grounded and just focus on myself and get myself together. I need to get back to being the productive, motivated, happy person that I have been, and not this emotional, needy, anxious, person that I seem to have become the last couple of weeks. I need to keep focused on my goals!!!!

Thanks! My doc has me do 24 hours of liquids, then move to mushies then full solids over a 48 hour period. If I feel really tight, I prolong the liquid or mushies stages to allow myself to adjust to the fill.

I went for my fill/follow up yesterday and I am down another 9 pounds. I currently weigh 253. The doctor said I'm doing great and he gave me another fill, which was a breeze. I'm still on liquids today. I ate some yogurt and had to eat it very very very slowly and I wasn't sure it was going to go down. I just had a protein shake and water yesterday. I'm feeling great. I've been consistently going to the gym and I'm starting to run out of clothes that fit! I'm wearing an 18 in top and bottom, but it's a women's 18. I can't wait to wear regular clothes! I ended up not getting sick like I thought I was last week and this past weekend was amazing. We went to a comedy club, tubing down the river, an awesome barbeque and a gun show and dinner with my boyfriend's family on Sunday. It was one of the best weekends I've had in a very long time. His mom keeps sending cake home with me! I still haven't told him about the band. We've gotten much closer now, I guess I'll tell him when I'm ready. What's amazing is that it really is not noticeable that there is anything different except for the scars on my stomach and the few days right after a fill when I really can't eat anything. People have been telling me regularly how great I look and I feel like I'm starting to look much better. I'm almost to my under 250 goal, which I'm really looking forward to. The next goal will be 240. I remember weighing 255 back in college and going on a diet and getting to 240 and remembering how sexy I felt! We'll see if I feel that way this time. It's been a few years! My goals are to eat healthy, small portions, and exercise regularly, but I'm going to enjoy life along the way. I'm not going to beat myself up or stick to a strict diet all the time. I feel like I could have lost more weight last month, so I'm going to try harder this month, but I'm not going to kill myself. It's coming off, slowly but surely! All in all, I feel great!

Sorry I haven't posted lately, but there's a bunch of drama going on at work. It's got me pretty stressed out. I was doing great after the fill, but now I'm thinking I may be too tight. I can drink liquids fine, but if I try to eat anything, it hurts. I try to eat yogurt for breakfast and I can't finish it because it hurts to eat it. Later in the day it was better, but the past few days, I can't seem to eat anything. I ordered a salad tuesday night and could only eat 2 bites. It hurt and I couldn't eat anymore. I don't lose weight well when I can't eat anything either. My body holds onto the calories I do eat and then when I can eat something, I'll gain. I want to see if I can lose some weight this week and if it'll loosen up, as it usually does as the month goes on, but if I'm still this tight on Monday, I'm going to see about a slight unfill. At least being this tight I won't be tempted to eat too much this weekend. I'm visiting my parents. I've tried to eat most of the food that is usually okay, and it all hurts. I couldn't even eat soup the other night. This is teaching me to eat MUCH slower though. I can nibble if I go extremely slow. It still hurts, but at least I've been able to get some protein down. I don't have acid reflux and don't feel any other side effects. It just hurts when I eat. Weird. Other than that, everything's going great. Well, work sucks. They are giving us a 2% pay cut due to the budget. But the boyfriend is being awesome and I'm very happy with the relationship. I've met his friends now and I think they like me. Our sleep/work schedules are out of synch, so we don't get to spend as much time together as we'd both like, but he is definitely making a big effort to see me more. I'm looking forward to the weekend. It'll be good to see my parents. I'm just dreaming about solid food!!!

Sorry I haven't posted lately, but there's a bunch of drama going on at work. It's got me pretty stressed out. I was doing great after the fill, but now I'm thinking I may be too tight. I can drink liquids fine, but if I try to eat anything, it hurts. I try to eat yogurt for breakfast and I can't finish it because it hurts to eat it. Later in the day it was better, but the past few days, I can't seem to eat anything. I ordered a salad tuesday night and could only eat 2 bites. It hurt and I couldn't eat anymore. I don't lose weight well when I can't eat anything either. My body holds onto the calories I do eat and then when I can eat something, I'll gain. I want to see if I can lose some weight this week and if it'll loosen up, as it usually does as the month goes on, but if I'm still this tight on Monday, I'm going to see about a slight unfill. At least being this tight I won't be tempted to eat too much this weekend. I'm visiting my parents. I've tried to eat most of the food that is usually okay, and it all hurts. I couldn't even eat soup the other night. This is teaching me to eat MUCH slower though. I can nibble if I go extremely slow. It still hurts, but at least I've been able to get some protein down. I don't have acid reflux and don't feel any other side effects. It just hurts when I eat. Weird. Other than that, everything's going great. Well, work sucks. They are giving us a 2% pay cut due to the budget. :thumbup: But the boyfriend is being awesome and I'm very happy with the relationship. I've met his friends now and I think they like me. Our sleep/work schedules are out of synch, so we don't get to spend as much time together as we'd both like, but he is definitely making a big effort to see me more. I'm looking forward to the weekend. It'll be good to see my parents. I'm just dreaming about solid food!!!

Sadly, I don't have anything new to report. I've been working, going to the gym, spending time with friends and the boyfriend. I guess no news is good news? I'm up and down the same five pounds since the fill. I feel restriction because I can't eat several different things--bread, steak, anything big, but for some reason I've been hungry alot. I have to "diet" to lose weight, and then if I have a bad day of eating, the scale jumps back up. I think my body likes the 260s for some reason. And I am so looking forward to the 250s... I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, so I'm sure that's not helping. My goals for the next week is to keep working out, eat out less, and get 8 hours of sleep! In good news, people keep commenting how "skinny" I look (relative term to what I was before, I will never be "skinny'!) In bad news, I was really tired the other night and slipped and fell in the shower and busted my face. I hit my chin mostly, and it cut and bled and I have a huge purple, black, and yellow bruise. I look like I was in a fist fight. My knees and elbows are bruised and I also have a knot on my head. No fun! It could have been much worse though. My face hit the ceramic pretty hard. I thought I broke my jaw, but no, I'm actually okay, I just look bad. Work has been brutal. I have a couple days off next week and I'm really looking forward to it. Tomorrow is Friday!!!

Thanks! You'll do great!!

Sadly, I don't have anything new to report. I've been working, going to the gym, spending time with friends and the boyfriend. I guess no news is good news? I'm up and down the same five pounds since the fill. I feel restriction because I can't eat several different things--bread, steak, anything big, but for some reason I've been hungry alot. I have to "diet" to lose weight, and then if I have a bad day of eating, the scale jumps back up. I think my body likes the 260s for some reason. And I am so looking forward to the 250s... I haven't been getting enough sleep lately, so I'm sure that's not helping. My goals for the next week is to keep working out, eat out less, and get 8 hours of sleep! In good news, people keep commenting how "skinny" I look (relative term to what I was before, I will never be "skinny'!) In bad news, I was really tired the other night and slipped and fell in the shower and busted my face. I hit my chin mostly, and it cut and bled and I have a huge purple, black, and yellow bruise. I look like I was in a fist fight. My knees and elbows are bruised and I also have a knot on my head. No fun! It could have been much worse though. My face hit the ceramic pretty hard. I thought I broke my jaw, but no, I'm actually okay, I just look bad. Work has been brutal. I have a couple days off next week and I'm really looking forward to it. Tomorrow is Friday!!!

So since my great doctor's appointment I've had really good restriction. I'm not hungry very often and when I do eat, if I don't chew well and eat small bites, I get a very painful feeling in my chest. I thought I was going to have to throw up a deli sliced piece of turkey for lunch on Monday. I waited it out and it went down. I lost another 3-4 pounds after the fill, and then after a weekend of eating some lemon bars that I made for my boyfriend (bad idea to have some left over) and drinking three marguaritas Sat night and 1 big alcoholic drink on Sunday, I was up the 3-4 pounds again. :rolleyes2: I cracked down this week and am now eating like I do when I'm serious about losing and that is coffee, yogurt, cottage cheese and a healthy dinner. Last night I had broiled fish (orange roughy) and broccoli. I've been to the gym every day so far this week and am actually headed there now. I'm down 2 of the 4 I gained back. It's scary that I can gain weight so easily. I know that my weight fluctuates with water and throughout the day so I try not to be too hard on myself, but I can't let myself get off track. I think some of it may be due to only eating liquids right after a fill and then switching to solid foods. I'm staying at 1200 calories a day, so I should continue to go down if my metabolism functions like it should. It's so easy to get addicted to sweets, so I'm outlawing them again for awhile. I really have been having trouble eating a lot of different foods, but I need to just remember to eat slow slow slow. I'm going to church with my bf on Sunday and then we're going to sunday brunch, so I'll need to really be careful about eating slowly. I've been obsessing about how bad my boobs look and I'm getting saggy skin fears. I know I'm happy about the weight I've lost and sometimes I feel that I look really good and then other times I'll catch myself in the mirror and get horrified. I know I need to concentrate on losing and working out and see what happens, but my arms look really bad. They just hang. It's not all skin, there's a lot of fat still in them, but wow they look bad. If the excess skin was gone, they would be pretty small and toned right now. Oh well, I guess you're supposed to wait until you're at goal for year to give your skin time to shrink back, so we'll see. I'm just impatient and want to look good now! Here's a new pic I just took.

So since my great doctor's appointment I've had really good restriction. I'm not hungry very often and when I do eat, if I don't chew well and eat small bites, I get a very painful feeling in my chest. I thought I was going to have to throw up a deli sliced piece of turkey for lunch on Monday. I waited it out and it went down. I lost another 3-4 pounds after the fill, and then after a weekend of eating some lemon bars that I made for my boyfriend (bad idea to have some left over) and drinking three marguaritas Sat night and 1 big alcoholic drink on Sunday, I was up the 3-4 pounds again. :thumbup: I cracked down this week and am now eating like I do when I'm serious about losing and that is coffee, yogurt, cottage cheese and a healthy dinner. Last night I had broiled fish (orange roughy) and broccoli. I've been to the gym every day so far this week and am actually headed there now. I'm down 2 of the 4 I gained back. It's scary that I can gain weight so easily. I know that my weight fluctuates with water and throughout the day so I try not to be too hard on myself, but I can't let myself get off track. I think some of it may be due to only eating liquids right after a fill and then switching to solid foods. I'm staying at 1200 calories a day, so I should continue to go down if my metabolism functions like it should. It's so easy to get addicted to sweets, so I'm outlawing them again for awhile. I really have been having trouble eating a lot of different foods, but I need to just remember to eat slow slow slow. I'm going to church with my bf on Sunday and then we're going to sunday brunch, so I'll need to really be careful about eating slowly. I've been obsessing about how bad my boobs look and I'm getting saggy skin fears. I know I'm happy about the weight I've lost and sometimes I feel that I look really good and then other times I'll catch myself in the mirror and get horrified. I know I need to concentrate on losing and working out and see what happens, but my arms look really bad. They just hang. It's not all skin, there's a lot of fat still in them, but wow they look bad. If the excess skin was gone, they would be pretty small and toned right now. Oh well, I guess you're supposed to wait until you're at goal for year to give your skin time to shrink back, so we'll see. I'm just impatient and want to look good now! Here's a new pic I just took.

You're looking great!!!

Hey guys! Hope everyone is doing well! I'd like to be in this too! Highest weight: 347 Starting weight (before pre-op diet) 330 Surgery weight: 316 Current weight: 262 Goal weight: 175 I've lost 68 pounds since starting the pre-op diet and 54 pounds since surgery. I lost 12 pounds this month and 18 pounds last month. My goal for April is 15 pounds.

Thanks! He said if I did have a leak, he just goes in and fixes it. They can do it under local anesthesia and he made it sound like it wasn't a really big deal. Of course, I think anytime they "go in" it's a big deal, so I'm happy that he doesn't think it's a leak.

:thumbup:I went for a fill today and I've lost 12 pounds this month! I was really happy because I was sick for one week and had birthday stuff (lots of food) another week, so I really cracked down this past week before the appointment and it paid off. He also checked and he had put in 6.8 ccs last time and there was only about 5 ccs in there this time, so the fluid went somewhere! He said usually if you have a leak it is a fast leak and the restriction is gone by the time you get home, so he doesn't think it's a leak. Sometimes I guess it gets absorbed or something? But I can't complain, it just means that regular fills are what I need and that my instincts were right, there was less fluid in there. He put me up to 7.3ccs. I've only been drinking fluids, but I'll let you know how that goes. I'm down 68 pounds!!!