EmeraldCoastPhotog

Hey All, I am glad to see you are still around and losing. Great job with all the successes. I know when I got my head straight I started to get my losing straight as well. Finally I am at my sweet spot and eating is under good control. I am due for another follow up appointment next Thursday. Everyone hang in there and I hope to see all of you at the finish line. Fran

Thanks for starting this thread. I was just sitting here thinking it has been one year today. I am down 51 pounds. I have another 50 or so to go but know that in the next year I can get the rest of the weight off. I had to have a small unfill right before Halloween because I was spitting up too much and think I inflamed my stomach. Now I can eat anything again, so I am going back for a slight refill next week. I look forward to hearing how everyone else is doing. Happy Holidays to all!

Hi Angie, I haven't checked the thread in quite sometime, but I see that your post is fairly recent. I am glad there are other December 2008 bandsters are still active. Your weight loss is great! Right on track according to everything I have been told. Keep up the good work. Like you I also had about a 4 month period when I wasn't losing any weight, but when I started walking then running my weight loss started up again. I am down 51 pounds as of this morning. Yipee! I hope to lose about 15 more before one year anniversary, December 10th. Though I have been noticing my decreasing weight for sometime now, my body is finally showing the loss, I have a bit more to lose than you and people are noticing who didn't know that I had surgery. I hope others will login and leave some encouraging results since their surgeries. Best wishes. Fran

Wow-- it has been great reading NSVs from everyone. I haven't been really busy lately. Here are some of my NSVs. 1) My husband did my monthly measurements last night and I was SO happy. Overall since surgery I have lost 32.75 inches. Of course I measure in a bunch of different places so that sounds like a lot more than it is, but when I did the math calculations --- I have lost 11% of my inches since my surgery. 2) My doctors official weight loss since December 10th is 30 pounds, my scale says it is higher (36 pounds) but who is counting? 3) It seems like everyday I am able to find clothes that were too tight and now are loose. The clothing discard pile is growing! 4) I was looking for something in the garage and came across a box of clothes that had been put up for a yard sale and forgotten about. Mostly jeans. I now have about 8 pairs of jeans I can wear. 5) My favorite jacket that I wasn't able to wear for years now fits again. 6) People are noticing. 7) I never noticed that people weren't terribly nice to me but it seems like people are more polite to me now. (So sad how fat people are treated in this country!) 8) It seems like many more men are opening doors for me. Thats all I can think of right now, but these are significant to me. And they sure feel good!

I was banded two months ago Tuesday on December 10th. The day of surgery I was 293. This morning the scale registered 263! WOOOOHOOO! 30 pounds down! Sorry to brag! Yea for me! You can do it, too. I follow the rules closely. I follow the rules outlined for me by my surgeon and follow the bandster rules most of the time. Though, I will admit to cheating occationally. Eating too much on one or two occations, but I quickly learned. I make sure I walk at least 10,000 steps a day. Additionally, I stay as busy as active as possible. I also started lifting weights two weeks ago. Best of luck during your surgery and for speedy weight recovery and weight loss. -Fran

Hi DebbieGail, Welcome! I was just heading to bed, I am up way to late, but I saw your post. I just wanted to say hello and welcome! To answer your question, no, you weren't chatting you were posting. But chat is also available, and the people there are very helpful and friendly. The chat button link is at the top of the home page. I was banded December 10th last year, so we are almost band twins. Close enough! There are a bunch of people who were banded in December 2008 who share messages in the December 2008 forum. We would love to have you join us. -Fran

Way cool! Thanks for sharing. Do you happen to have one after it has been clasped?

Hey Lompoc, How did your fill go? -Fran

Ditto to the two cup food processor suggestion. I have one, purchased from Lowe's several years ago at the time I remember thinking it would be a handy thing to have and they were on sale for less than $10.00. I also have a Cuisinart Food Processor and a Vita-Mixer. The Vita-Mixer was a hand me down from my Mother who bought it about 20 years ago. She wasn't using it too much, and thought I would like it so she offered it to me. It makes awesome Protein shakes. Still works great after 20 years of use. Though I love my Cuisinart and use it frequently, I think we use the small food processor most frequently of all because it is quick and easy to use and clean. It makes great mushy food. My husband bought a magic bullet to make Protein shakes at work. He hasn't metioned it is too loud but I get the impression it doesn't get used as often as the shaker cup he bought at GNC. Good luck! -Fran

I think post surgery I have more backdoor gas, but my doesn't have much of an odor either. Definitely more burping than prior to surgery. My seven year old son thinks it is quite funny though. I have let him know that calling someone out for passing gas isn't polite, but he always has a creative way of doing it. Last night when he heard the wind, he said "OK, who busted the Grumpy". My husband and I cracked up. -Fran

Yea for you! I will say a little prayer for you. I don't know if you have a hand held massager but if you have that throw it in your bag. Will help when you are laying in the bed trying to get past the gas. Word of wisdom --- Relax. I know it is tough, but being stressed is not going make the experience more enjoyable. As a matter of fact, it might make it more painful. Oh, and I am sure you heard this before... but WALK WALK WALK! As soon as they let you get out of bed.. walk like your life depends on it. That will make recovery so much smoother and get the gas out. Good luck -Fran

Hey BethM and Rafa, I am glad your fills went well. Beth -- I am glad to hear you finally got to eat like a champ before the fill. I do remember you saying you were feeling like Gandhi a few weeks back. Looking at your weight loss, it looks like you have done really well. -Fran