trina4ufl

Thanks!!!!!!!

Thanks so much for the support!

Thanks for all of the support!!!

So, technically I missed posting on my surgiversary, or my one year anniversary of getting my lap band. It's been a good ride. It's had it's ups and downs but as of today, two weeks after my one year mark, I weigh 210 pounds. That is 120 pounds less than I did a year ago. Wow! I never really thought I would get this far! I'm still 32 pounds from my goal but I'm feeling pretty great. I have alot of energy now that I've gotten over this bronchitis thing. I lost 10 pounds this month when I weighed in at the doctor today. My surgeon showed me my before picture and I don't even recognize it. Did I really look like that?

No diet could have done this. I will take credit for my part, because I have exercised, gone to all my follow up appointments and fills, followed the rules (for the most part!) and try to eat healthy most of the time. But I will give the band the credit that is due because with the band, it is not impossible.

LapBand 12/1/08

Starting weight/surgery weight/current weight/goal weight/height

330/316/210/175/5'10"

Thanks! I actually feel great now. I have restriction, but I'm not too tight.

I went for my 4 week apt. at the surgeon's office and have lost 7 pounds in four weeks, putting me at 217. It hasn't really been the best way to lose, as I've been too tight this month. I've had several vomiting episodes and bad heartburn. The doc took out all the fluid and let me drink some water so if some food at been stuck, it would wash down, then he filled me up to 8.0. I had been at 8.5. I feel a huge difference. No heartburn and I can actually eat without feeling like I need to throw up. I've really only eaten some soup (pho) so far, but so far I don't even feel much restriction, but I'm not pushing it. I hope this doesn't mean that I'll gain weight over the holidays, but for now, I feel so much better. I do have a bad head cold so I'm home from work today. I fell asleep at 7:30pm last night and didn't wake up until 7:30 am this morning, tried to get ready for work, and realized I felt dizzy and much too sick to go in. I'm very happy with my progress as Dec. 1st is my year anniversary and I've lost 113 pounds total, 99.7 pounds since surgery day. I'll take it! I'm very happy with my lapband. Now if I could get rid of this cold, I'd be feeling great!:thumbup:

Well, Things are going well. I got another fill a couple of weeks ago, and it is really tight. I've had heartburn for the first time I throw up if i eat too fast or the wrong kind of food. I'm actually considering a slight unfill at my next appt. I'm currently at 218 and keep receiving tons of compliments. My future sister in law says I look like I need to eat a cheeseburger! My boyfriends' mom, said I look super skinny and my boyfriend can't keep his hands off me. The only problem? No clothes that fit! I would kill for a pair of black pants that didn't hang off my butt and drag on the floor. I had an awesome time on Halloween. I was a vampire with a costume that I threw together at the last minute, but the teeth were awesome. I'll try and post some pics. Okay, it wouldn't let me upload them for some reason but if you're interested, go to http://trina4ufl.livejournal.com/

THanks so much! I really appreciate all the support! It keeps me motivated on those days that I get down. And yes, to the chest question. I have lost alot of weight in my chest. It will get smaller as you lose weight, but it won't completely go away if you naturally have a large chest.

My weight at my doctor's appt on Tuesday was 229. My start weight was 330. I have lost 100 pounds. That sounds so strange to say. I am really excited about it and my life has improved immeasurably. I still have a ways to go to get to my first goal, which is 175 but I'm very thankful with the amount of weight I've lost these past 9-10 months. My surgeon is extremely happy for me. My resting heart rate is 50, which he says is awesome. My BP is 125/67 and all my blood work came back in the normal range. All my clothes are way too big, even the ones I just bought a month ago and I have stamina and can do normal tasks, as well as work out for a long time at the gym without feeling tired. I don't feel awkward in social situations, like going into a room and wondering if I'll fit in the chair. When people see me, they usually ask how much weight I've lost or say that I look great. I can see the bones in my face, in a good way! I'm not skinny in any way, but who knew I had cheekbones under there? I have no more plantar fascitis or foot pain and my back doesn't hurt anymore. I don't get winded going up a flight of stairs or walking around the mall or taking my dog out or shaving my legs. I've gone from a 24/26 size clothes to an 18-maybe even smaller since my clothes are too big now! This has not been easy, but I guess I'm amazed. It's actually working! I guess I never really believed I would continue to see the scale move down. I still can't imagine being below 200 pounds. I haven't weighed this weight since my freshman year of college and I'm now 30 years old. That was 12 years ago!

Lap Band: 12/1/08

330/316/229/175 5'9"

st.w/sw/cw/gw Ht.

(my highest weight ever was 347)

:redface:

232 today...after going from 238 on my home scale the day of my last doctor's appt two weeks ago, then going down to 234 on my liquid diet, and then back up to 240, I am finally starting to see some downward movement, even though it's only a few pounds in the last two weeks, I'll take it. I'm only 2 pounds away from hitting the 100 pound down mark!

oh and NSV--my size 18 jeans that were super tight a few weeks ago now are falling down. I need a belt, only my waist is too wide for regular sized belts right now without feeling squished. Also, a ran into an old friend last weekend who looked at me, did a double take and was like, wow, you're looking great. Now he's known me for many years, and I don't think he's seen me at my heaviest, so that's a compliment for sure.

I've gotten into a better groove with eating. I'll eat healthy 90% of the time and then allow myself the occasional fast food fix or junk food, but I look at the calories before I eat it and make sure it's nothing crazy. For example, I had a grilled chicken to go wrap from Wendy's 250 calories for lunch and another day I was going to allow myself a taco supreme from taco bell 200 calories, but then I thought it would be too messy to eat at work so I ate a healthy choice frozen meal instead. I've been trying to eat breakfast so sometimes I have a mini blueberry muffin, one day I had the low fat starbucks blueberry coffee cake which I'm sure used up the majority of my daily calories, but it was so good. I did skip lunch that day and had a super healthy dinner, so it worked out. I have to watch it right when I get home from work because that is when I'm stressed and tired and want to pig out, so I try to go to the gym or plan something with my boyfriend for that time. I eat 2 tablespoons of crunchy peanut butter some days at that time to hold me over until dinner. Dinner has been good because I get really solid protein food like chicken breasts and peas or last night it was steak and lobster tail. Since my fill is good, I can only eat a very small portion, but I'm full when I eat it, so it works out great. 3 meals and a snack in between lunch and dinner seem to keep me away from the ravenous hunger stage. I have to eat different things or I get bored and want to revert to crappy food.

Thanks everyone! I really appreciate the encouragement and it really motivates me to stay on track!

I try to eat mostly protein, low fat, low carb. I can't do bread and with my recent fill, pasta doesn't go down well either, so that keeps me in check. I drink a danactive priobiotic drink (yogurt section of grocery store) and coffee with spenda and sugar free coffee mate for breakfast, then lunch varies. If I'm hungry and I can eat, I'll have a lean cuisine, if not I'll have some yogurt or cottage cheese or string cheese or something with protein. Then a protein drink or a couple tablespoons of peanut butter before the gym. Dinner is usually something with shrimp, or sometimes fish. Sometimes I make something at the beginning of the week and eat it all week. I go to recipezaar.com. I made crustless quiche, shrimp salad, chicken noodle soup, just to name a few. My fill is pretty tight, so I eat a little bit and then I'm not hungry. If I'm craving sweets or junk food, I make myself eat protein first and then I find that I don't want the other stuff because I'm full. I really think that frequent fills are the key to my success. That and exercise. Exercise makes me feel good and keeps me on track mentally. I switch up what exercise I do every four weeks or so. Right now I have been going to a body pump class at the gym 3 days a week which is like a cardio class but with weights. It's awesome! I also try to do the elliptical trainer or treadmill several times a week. Basically, just try to stay active, keep my mind off food, and don't have any junk food in the house. I do eat junk occasionally, but I don't keep it around. I have to actively go get it. If I make or buy something that's unhealthy, I'll eat some of it and then throw the rest out. Good luck!!

I went to my follow up doctor's appointment today. It's been two months since my last visit, and I've lost a little over 11 pounds since then. I currently weigh 235, so I've lost 95 pounds total in about 81/2 months. My doctor says I'm doing awesome. I did end up getting a fill because I've been hungry in between meals the last couple of weeks and sometimes I can eat way too much food. He only put .5 of a cc in, and it feels pretty tight. I'm hoping I can still eat most of the good protein and most food, but that I'm not as hungry and that I can't eat as much of it. It feels like my weight loss is slowing down, but the doc says I'm right on track. I have been feeling sluggish some days, so he ordered a blood test to check my B12 and iron levels. I did have issues with anemia when I was younger, so I want to make sure that I'm not lacking iron now, which would make me sluggish. All in all, I'm pretty excited and I know I could never have gotten here without the band and of course, my awesome surgeon who gives me great support. I'm scheduled for another visit in four weeks. I met with the nutritionist and she suggested making sure I eat something for breakfast every day, even if it's just protein powder in my coffee and doing free weights instead of the machines at the gym. She said that it will work better because it uses your stabilization muscles. She said only beginners should do the circuit lines and I've been doing them for 8 months, so it's time to move on to something new. My mood is great and I'm excited that I'm still losing consistently. Yay!!!!:sad:

I need to post new pics, though I guess I haven't because the weight loss has been pretty slow. I didn't lose anything for awhile and one week I gained back the weight I had lost the week before, but now I'm at 237 which I'm still pretty happy about because at least it's going in the right direction. I know I could be doing better. I've been eating small portions, but "regular" food instead of "diet" food. I just got really sick of yogurt and cottage cheese. Plus I think I was too tight for awhile and that made me eat whatever I could get down. I did have an "epidsode" today though. I've been able to eat pretty well, small portions but most foods. I've eaten steak several times but only a little bit. Well today, I was out of town for the day with my boyfriend and we didn't get a chance to eat so I was super super hungry by 6pm. I met up with my friends who don't know about my WLS and ordered a ribeye. I ate it way too fast and had to throw up. The worst part was that I thought I was going to throw up right at the table. I ran to the bathroom, but it was really crowded and no one likes hearing someone puke in a restaurant, so I went outside. It was really crowded out there too with people walking around, parking, etc. I just kept hoping it would go down, but no dice. I finally puked by my car. I still felt like I needed to puke more so I paid my tab and told my friends I got suddenly sick. They were really concerned and worried. Then I had to puke again by my car. I got home, barely, and puked a little more and then laid down and was okay. Stupid of me to eat steak fast. I was actually considering getting another fill on the 11th but now I know I should not. I just need to be patient and eat healthier. I'm just impatient because it's not falling off the way it was at first. However, I know that the slow weight loss is better for the skin situation. Other than that, things are going well. I have a couple of days off work so I'm enjoying them. I'll get the official weight loss at the doctor's appointment on Aug. 11th. I'm going to keep hitting the gym and crack down on the food choices until then and hope for a good weight loss.

I cleaned out my closet tonight. I realize that none of my pants fit me. They are way too big. I have clothes ranging all the way up to 3x and 24/26. I tried on an 18W in the store today, and they were way too big as well. I actually bought a pair of workout pants in a medium. I tried them on by accident and they fit. Now granted they are stretch pants, but still! I have way too many clothes to get rid of. I think I'm going to take them to a consignment store so I can at least get a little money out of them. I don't have the patience for ebay. Now that I've gotten rid of my big clothes, my closet looks pretty empty. I did get a bunch of clothes in Orlando this weekend, so at least I have something to wear. It feels good to get rid of all the big clothes, but a part of me is wondering if I'll need them again someday. Well, out they go!

Thanks, I didn't get the job, but I'm looking on the bright side. I do have a secure job where I am and for that I am grateful!

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.

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!!!!

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.

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!!!

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.

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.