sparkplug

How true you are!!! I am 57 yrs old and have been battling this weight my whole life. I have been banded since 12/20/08 and am down 90 pds but every day is a new day to fight this addiction. Everything you said in your post is so so true and I agree 100% with it. We cannot give up food like an alcoholic or drug addict and go on to live life, we have to learn some kind of controls and every day is a new trial and error episode to our life long battle of the bulge. Truer words were never spoken like you hit the subject on the head with this post. We are all in this together and that is why even after 2 years of being banded, I come on this website every single day, every morning with my cup of coffee, I read how we are all in this together. I hope that everybody that reads your post realizes that we are all in this together and there is no magical cure (the band), everything is a work in progress. I will continue this battle since I love being a size 8-10 again after all of these years of being overweight. I love people saying how tiny I am and how young looking I look after shedding all that weight. Good luck and I hope that someone else beside myself can see the reality of what you have just posted. Bless all of you for your long journey to a better life with the band.

This is soooooo funny! I thought I was the only one that lied about my weight on my DL! Was I ever shocked after reading this website. I absolutely love it!!! I had put 190 lb when I was actually 235 and they never said a word! ha ha I really need to change my picture though, and see the difference. I have self image issues and don't see the 90 pd difference, maybe with a new picture I can see it. Thanks for everybody sharing this, I thought I was the only one lying about my weight!!

I found this out several times over and still have not learned to not eat when stressed by work or family issues. It is a GUARANTEE that I will be stuck, regardless how small the bites or how careful I am in eating. I have no fills and it gets super tight when stressed or first thing in morning when I wake up. I am almost 2 years out since being banded, and this has been an ongoing thing with me from day one. I stop eating immediately and make my smoothie with banana and strawberries and whey Protein to substitute for my meal.

I hate this new style of formatting and when I tried to go to another lap band site, they have the same format!!! What the hay????? We old timers, like the old way better, it was more user friendly and now it is a nightmare to even get on here. I rely heavily on this site every day to start my day out in a positive note and this has been an absolute nightmare with this new format. The more complaints the better, I hope they can refine this to be more user friendly. Thanks

I am almost 2 years banded and still occasionally get stuck. Just this last week, twice on turkey!! I refuse to throw it back up, just walked and walked, with chewing papaya enzyme tablets and finally it moved down. I tend to miss meals on weekend and I get so hungry, either I take too big of a bite or don't chew enough. Wouldn't you think I would learn by now. I would hate to see if I had any fill, never had a fill and probably a good thing for that. Hopefully we will learn down the road....

be patient crybaby, I hit so many plateaus when I started 2 years ago that I thought I would never make the end of this long journey. There is light at the end of the tunnel, if I can do this, anybody can do this. Don't give up, it is a long road and you need your strength along the way. Good luck and be happy with each and every loss.

I have done this from day one. I bought a little dish and have smaller utensils just for me and it helps tremendously. Something about using a big plate and not having it look full, plays games on your mind that you do not have enough food. It has helped me greatly to have my food on a small dish and I still leave some food sometimes when my band is tight from a stressful day at work.

very informative, thank you

I would also like to know if you cannot cut them with a pill cutter, what to do? I just gave away Calcium supplements that had horse sized pills and would have had to cut into 3 pieces to get them down. I use chewable Vitamins and calcium pills.

Did anybody else lose their ticker with this new and improved website? It lost mine and I am not sure if I can get it back on? Any questions or help would be appreciated, until I can find another website to chat on.

My computer is like that too, you can't even talk to people because on the chat site, you cannot see who you are talking to, the names are almost totally covered up. I hope the administrators like this new program, they can keep it, I will find another website to check every morning to reenforce my lap band rules, this is very distracting and totally unnecessary to have everything covered up with advertisements. Again, I absolutely HATE this website like this, I want it back to user friendly like it was.

I ABSOLUTELY HATE this new website, you can't see who is on the chat because these huge ads on the right are covering everybodys names up????? What is the deal, need them to pay for this site, or just totally obsessed with advertising? I will have to navigate and find a new site, this drives me crazy, I dont have the patience to try to get these ads off of the screen, if it is even possible.

I have been banded almost 2 years and I still struggle with head hunger. I went from 235 pd to 144pd and have been maintaining for the last year. I do not ever say I cannot have a piece of pie, that is trouble brewing in my mind to be told that I can never have what I love again. I have had no fills and have perfect restriction ( odd bird, I know). I am off all meds and feel like a teenager again. Love these websites to see how everyone else is doing. It is worth every dollar I paid out of pocket to be in my size 8-10's. Good luck everybody!

It is great to see that even movie stars need help like us. Whether they have band or GB, I believe they feel like us that they needed help with this huge weight problem we all have. I do, however, see that the ones that GB have gained some if not all weight back and it makes me feel better that we have the band and can have it adjusted to keep better control. Just my thoughts on the subject. I love my band!!

Nic, I am with you on the misleading info on packages. When was the last time you bought the dollar bag of popcorn, it says 2 servings, so I think you are just suppose to taste things and not get filled up. They know how to legally mislead you when buying food, so be aware of how many servings on the calorie label on the back of bags, cans and boxes. I do not think that is funny either.

Erin, how can you go wrong with all this support. We all go through many stages of slacking off for a while, but you need to remember to get back to the grind stone and get moving. I wish I had this opportunity when I was 19, I was 55 when got my band, and if I can do it, so can you. Keep positive thoughts and you can do it!

I don't know if it is a compulsion, I like to refer to it as "head Hunger" even though I am not hungry, I get an idea in my head I want something and it is so hard to get that thought out! I was banded 12/20/08 and am to goal with 90 pds lost. I do splurge now and again so as to not be obsessed about having something and go up and down 2 pds but I can live with that and am so much happier in life since losing this weight. I don't know if the head hunger ever goes away, but like they have said here, we do have some control with having the band, thank you whoever invented the band to begin with!!!

The 100 reasons was fantastic. What so many people don't realize when they have never been fat or yo yo dieting their whole life like us is that unlike alcoholism, you can quit drinking and live. Food is a necessity and we just have to learn to limit the amount, we cannot stay totally away from food and survive. This website is the greatest part of this journey for me. Thanks to everybody here.

Wuggum, that is so funny, even when I was my heaviest at 235 pds, it did not take much to give me a chill. I have always ran cold and I wished for the day of hot flashes too! When it did happen, quite early in life I must say at age 39, it did not solve the problem, the hot flashes make you sweat and you are even colder afterwards than normal. I am learning to dress in layers, even though we do not get snow here, it does get cold enough to bundle up, nice to know I am not alone on this journey either, thanks girls.

I too like all of the cold people here are always cold. We get temperatures up in the 120 here in Arizona and people think I am crazy because I am comfortable! As far as testing my thyroid, my Dr. checked that out and said everything is normal, he too agrees it is the weight loss. I don't know if I will ever be warm again and winter is just around the corner. On the other hand, I would not change a single thing about having the band and losing 90 pds. Any suggestions on this other than the obvious of the thyroid test, would be a great help to all of us coldies.

I too, am guilty of indulging in eating potato chips, you cannot have just one, as they say!

I am 150% satisfied with my band and my life now, never thought possible to be at goal weight for over a year! I feel like a million dollars.

I do the same as latin does, with strawberries and bananas and my whey protein. I make a delicious smoothie which is my desert and with splenda it is absolutely delicious and satifies my sweet tooth. I have a hard time getting protein in at times and this helps with my daily protein.

I agree with both people here, but I myself find with no fills ever and being at goal of losing 90 pds, I still need some will power, the band does not work for me alone. I would never want to be without the band, but I fight every now and again with head hunger and that is my demon. We are all in this together and we all have issues otherwise we would never gone through the surgery of getting the band. There is so much helpful advice on here, you just need to see what fits your body.

I agree with Elcee, the band is EVERYTHING to me! It has been a life saver for me and saved me from the doom of tons of medications for obesity like my mom had to take for years. I cannot live without it but hope you made right decision and do well. Even with no fills, I could not do this alone, the band has been my everything to lose 90 pds and keep it off. Good luck on your journey without the band and hope you live a long and healthy life.