julie.ann

BG:

Great to feel like normal again isn't it! Can't wait to see how you are doing when it is time for a fill. When are you scheduled?

About a month after getting banded I went to a dinner theatre with a couple of girlfriends. There was a buffet. Not only was I able to eat just fine, my friends didn't know I had the lapband and couldn't tell from that meal.

Eating buffet is okay...it is just the old style of eating buffest. Eat to get your money's worth. You won't. It will be a lot of money for a little food, but that is okay. It is just a frame of mind.

My hardest part was thinking to go out and have fun HAD to include a ton of unhealthy food. Six months and 98lbs later I still work at it, but it is easier.

You can do this. It took about 3 months for it to become a lifestyle....but you can do it!

It is the best thing I do for my weight loss! I use www.sparkpeople.com

I didn't share until about month five. No one guessed. I'm glad I kept is a secret as long as I did.

Good luck.

I don't know you and I know that some women are unfairly mean and vindctive to their kid's step parents.

On the flip side we do not let our 15 yr old daughter have a cell phone or have a myspace page because she had repeatedly made bad decisions and although her dad and I are still happily married I would expect those rules to be honored no matter which household she was in.

My band has become much more fickle than ever before. I guess it is better than being wide open, but I am worried that I might get stuck and hurt my band. I am just getting more careful.

My hubby didn't understand why I wanted surgery either. One night lying in bed ( after being together) I was completely honest with him. I told him how I feel when we were intimate. How embarrassed I felt. How scared I was getting on a plane wondering if the seat belt would fit and having the arm rest cut into my thighs. I told him how I felt sitting in the stands watching our kids play sports and I couldn't even cross my legs. I told him how I had started worrying about sleap apnea and why I slept with pillows supporting my hips and tummy. I was honest.....raw honest. I told him things that I never said out loud before. How I miss being comfortable around him and wanted my kids to huge me and have their arms go all the way around me.

I was crying at the end of that conversation, but DH finally started to understand how I felt and I had his support.

He wasn't a cheerleader, but he would listen when I talked and I tried to teach him a little at a time. It is still work to lose weight. The band is just a tool. DH sees how hard I work at eating healthy and working out.

Be honest. THat is the best advice I can give you....

cute wedding picutes. I think I weight less now than I did at our wedding. You looked great.

Wow! Great job!!!! That awesome!

This is a great list. You will get there!

That is AWESOME! Is that a scale victory or a non-scale victory?:wink:

Great job. I can't wait to be overweight. I want to hear the Wii tell me every morning. It will be a heck of alot better than hearing "That's Obese!"

I have another 25 lbs, but I'll get there just like you!

The next best thing after my band has been my on-line food journal. I use www.sparkpeople.com I don't really do anything else on there except the food journal although there are other things. Dailyplate.com and lapband.com has the same type of thing. It makes me accountable. I keep my carbs low and my protein high.

Good luck.

I have gone from a DD to a good C cup so far. I LOVE IT!!!

I do hear the tube sock thing....I am thinking PS for my 40th bday. It is in 5 years. By then I will have my surgery will be paid off and I can get a new surgery loan. I am planning on a tummy tuck and breast lift. (maybe my thighs too)

Be ready to gain. If you are dehydrated some of that weight will be coming back....and it should. If you are dehydrated it will hinder your weight loss. You will start retaining all fluid possible.

Be careful. Take care.

Today is my 6 month bandiversary! Yeah!!! (throw confettii here)

I have lost 94 lbs! WOW! I can't believe it. So I had DH take my picture. I will try to attach it here you you can see them on my profile. I feel like this is such a step. I think partly because I felt like a year after surgery I would be happy and now I am halfway to that goal. I am much happier. I feel good about myself most of the time. I don't like the pictures that I am going to post. I still don't have a clear picture of what I look like. It is like I am wearing some type of sunglasses that block certain colors. I know it doesn't make sense, but I am ready for my mind to catch up.

I do worry. What happens if I get to goal. (Health BMI) and I still see a fat person staring back at me in pictures? I worry about that kind of stuff. It is kind of ironic to me that I am beginning to worry what happens if I lose too much weight. I am a long way from that...but it is out there.

Good luck to all the newly banded, congrats to all that have hit goal and to all of those that are in the middle......let's keep on keeping on!

High/Surgery/Current/Goal

285.5/ 271 / 191.4/ 142.5

Banded - 10/29/08 Four fills - 4.7cc in 10cc band

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Honey,

Take a breath. Realize that this sucks, but it will get better. Go back to the basics.

First of all you need to let yourself heal. That is the most important part.

Next start keeping a journal. www.sparkpeople.com, dailyplate.com or lapband.com has a site to help you track what you eat. This is a great time to do this. You don't have resistance, but that is only one tool in your battle against this enemy we fight called obesity. A food journal is the second best thing I do for my weight loss.

Work very hard on telling when you are hungry and when you are craving. EVERYTIME you start looking for food ask yourself, "Are you hungry?" I mean is your stomach empty. Sometimes it is very hard to tell.

Give yourself a break. This is a tough time. You knew it could be this way. You hope it you will be one of the lucky ones that doesn't go through bandster hell. A day will come in the near future when you will have had several fills and you will tell an amazing difference, but don't wait for the band to do all the work. Try to take the advice above. I've heard something like 85% of people that lose weight and keep it off keep food journals!

Here is my blog. The best advice and stories I can give you are found in the pages of my blog. I encourage you to start at the old post (the last page) and enjoy. I hope it will help you as much as it has helped me.

I am almost 6 months out and I have lost 93 lbs.

I have noticed that since I have returned from my week at the beach that I have become more complacent about my routine. Happier about how I look and comfortable in the sizes I am fitting into. This is what I am going to refer to as the begining of my demise.....

I have to be more careful. I was at the gym last night and I had a very stern talk with myself. I am less than a week away from hitting my 6 month bandiversary and I am thinking I will be at the -95# mark by that day. Isn't that incredible? Yes...the problem is that I am starting to think so too. I have found that DiGourno Pizza has a thin and crispy crust pizza that is about the healthiest out there and unfortunately I have had it 3 times this week. Yes I eat my serving or maybe 1.5 servings and stop, but that isn't the problem. The carbs in that are usually what I allow myself for the entire day and I had 3 cookies today to. For all of those people that say that it is okay to splurge everyone once in a while....yes it is. Three times in one week, well not so much. I have to get back to thinking about my goals.

I started at 285# and I now weigh under 192#. Do I want to be here for the next 6 months? I am undermining myself and my goals for the future. I have a birthday in June and I want to be under 180 for my birthday.

Everyone has been very nice at work and I am getting those comments about people not recognizing me. I was called to help recover a patient yesterday and the OR nurse had to ask another nurse who I was because she didn't recognize me. I always say, "Thank you, that is very nice of you to say that." What I want to say is that I am picking very flattering clothes and that is part of the difference. But I just say thank you.

You know now that I am blogging about this I think I may have just come to a realization. (That is why I blog!) You may have heard me talk about McCutey (aka McFlirty McCreepyhands.) that was at my conference last week. I wonder if this is part of the reason that I haven't been on my best behavior. There might be a small part of me that is afraid of messing things up with DH. We have had our problems (9 years ago I almost called it quits), but the last 5 years has been the best because we are happy and he really is the best. He works hard and still is the best dad, does the laundry and other house work, is supportive in whatever goals I work towards and he is a sexy man.

When I knew I might not hit my connecting flight back home last week I almost went back tot the hotel I was staying as for another night. I didn't because I felt like it might lead me into trouble. I figured getting stuck in an airport all night would be the much better plan.

I need to realize that the more weight I lose the more attention I might get. I need to realize that some of that attention might be from attractive men. I need to realize that a man can flirt with me and that is all the farther it goes. I have to realize that sabatoging myself will not make me safer or happier. I need to realize that I need to get up off my big...ok medium sized butt and get back into the routine that has made me happy these last 6 months because if I weigh the same or more in a month or 6 months I will be very disappointed in myself. I have learned the secret to being healthy. If I walk away from it now it is like holding a winning lottery ticket and not cashing it in and then bitching about not having enough money to pay my bills.

I will do this. I will get back on the horse. I will work with my band one day at a time. Not a month or a week at a time, but ONE DAY AT A TIME!

I don't want this to be the begining of my demise. I will make it the first step to my next 6 month journey......

this is a tough time, but just practice only eating when you are hungry. Learn you hungers. That is a big step. You are in bandsters hell. You can make it through!

Great to hear you are doing well. I knew you would. Are you ready to be where we have been? Welcome. Very soon the day will come you will meet a 6 month dieter on here and help them out through what they are experiencing. That will continue to help you just as it has helped the others living in Bandlandia. That the great thing about this is site, it is a great big circle of friends!

I'll be thinking of you. Take care of yourself and I can't wait to hear how everything goes.

You know I am pretty good with computers and I still haven't been able to attach pics to my blog. Great job!

"McFlirty McCreepyhands......"

BG --You CRACK ME UP!! I wish I was as witty as you.

I made my album public now...just in case you can go to my profile and then you can view my album from there.

I went to the beach last week for a conference and things went pretty well. I was able to work out 4 days last week and I did pretty well eating with only a few cheats. I did drink too much alcohol and I know those are empty calories but I had a good time and I even lost a little weight.

Ok so here is the thing that happened that is kind of weird. I could be wrong....It has been a while.....but I think that one of the docs was flirting with me. Yeah, I know! WEIRD!

He was a McCutey! I DID tell him I was married and talked about what a great guy DH is. Expecially after he asked me if I was staying over an extra night. I asked if he had family (I promise I was wondering if he had kids, you know small talk). He must have taken it wrong because he told me he was divorced. I asked "No kids?" He said yes and I asked him if he didn't consider them family. He said he thought maybe that wasn't the question.

I know I have been married a long time (almost 16 years) but how many different reasons can a guy find to touch you. Geesh! My arm, shoulder, leg, back and that was sitting at a table with 8 other people having a nice....not too personal conversation. I have to admit (but not to my hubby) that it was very flattering,(probablly because he was so damn cute and well put together....give me a break I'm married not blind) but it was also a little strange to be back into that group of the population that has to worry about some random guy flirting with her.

My general goal for quite some time has been simply to blend in and not be noticed as the "big lady walking my way" or "sitting next to me." I have wanted to feel invisible, or that I look like the average person walking down the street. I have just begun to feel that way. I don't have to use a "professional persona" as my shield at business trips, but I guess now I have to see what happens when my real personality is out there in front of everyone. That is kind of scarey. I don't even know if I can let anyone really get to know me the "real" me.

I am starting to wonder who that is....