JENNIFER7375

it's nice to see us patting ourselves on the backs and being proud of our accomplishments instead of beating ourselves up for not losing fast enough. ladies we all look great!

hey ladies. things are going pretty good. ive had a good week. got a fill a week ago monday. and i think i've finally got some restriction. i'm only 11 pounds away from my birthday goal!

Ive noticed alot of people beating themselves up about the amount of weight they've lost so far in there weight loss jouney. I've been guilty of this myself alot lately. And some of us have already lost 40,60 and some even a 100 pounds already. I was putting away groceries yesterday. Well I was putting away a 5lb bag of sugar. Realized how heavy it was. I realized that In just a few months i'd lost the equivalent of over 7 of those bags. It made me really proud of myself. It made me realize that no this isn't happening over night but yes it is really happening. So I guess my point is as long as were trying and losing and no matter at what pace were gonna get there. That every pound lost gets me 1 step closer to where I wanna be. We all need to be proud of ourselves and what we've accomplised so far.

I've definitely been there. I've looked at pictures of me and cried over how fat I looked. My girlfriends and I go out alot and always take pictures. There's nothing like being the fattest friend in a picture to crush your self esteem

I have a really hard time with chicken too. I've found that I can eat it if it's Im salad. But only in small bites and alot of dressing. I've tried the crockpot thing and it's been hit or miss. People keep telling me we can eat anything if we chew and take small bites. That's something alot of us are still working on, so maybe it will get better with time.

Congratulations! Now do something to reward yourself for all your hard work. When I hit onederland I treated myself to a pair of really great jeans.

I'm in the same boat as most of you. My 1st fill was only 2ccs and my 2nd fill was only 1cc. I still don't have much restriction, especially at night. I work 3rd shift at at a job that's sedentary . So it's really hard not to eat at night out of sheer boredom. My surgeons great but will only do a fill every 4 weeks, so my next fills not until June 1st. I'm hoping that one will get me to my sweet spot. Good luck everyone. By looks of everyone stats it looks like we aren't doing too bad at all considering we don't have full restriction .

hello ladies! how are we doing with our july birthday goals? id been stuck around 194 forever. i finally got a 2nd fill last week and it seems to have helped. but i have to say i also have been working 60 hours a week so its been hard to fit exercise in the way i should. how are you all doing?

hey ladies i found a great night time sweet snack. the fiberone granola bars are really good, they taste great and satisfy the sweet and the chocolate craving. they have 140 calories and 9grams of fiber. they really fill me up and seem to hold me over for a while.

i started driving about 4 days after my banding without any problems

I have the AP 10cc band. It comes down to what brand tour doctor likes and probably which company he has a supply contract with . But from most of my reading besides the AP coming in 2 sizes the differences are minimal.

It is almost an exclusive female problem . Men and women are competitive in different ways. Men don't want other men to have better cars or bigger TVs. Women don't want other women to be thinner or prettier. Case in point there's a girl here at my job. Very pretty girl on the thin side. A huge bitch. she and I don't get along well. She's the only person at work who said anything negative to me about my surgery. At least the only one bold enough to say it to my face. Well now she's pregnant , gaining a ton of weight and let me tell you it all ain't baby. I secretly take great pleasure in knowing that post baby I'm probaby gonna be smaller than her. Not the nicest thing in the world but hey I'm only human and she is really a bitch!

For me I've had mixed reactions. I think are friends and family that are heavy just aren't ready to make a committment that so drastically changes there relationship with food. And it's hard to deal with us now that we've made that change. And the thin ones just don't like the idea of the fat girl they look down there noses at being the same size as them. People aren't comfortable with change

Ladies I'm also a night eater. I work 3rd shift at a fairly sedentary job. And I myself do really great all day but find myself wanting to pick all through the night. Id definitely like some support from people who are going through the same thing. And of course be as much help to you guys as I can!

I had around 80 pounds to lose as well my BMI was somewhere around 38-39. My insurance covered my surgery because of high blood pressure and family history. For most insurances to cover under a BMI of 40 you need to have one or more health problems along with obesity. Hope this helps. Oh and even with them most require you pretty close to the 35 mark and 6 months of primary care physicians supervised attempt at weight loss .

I was very tired for at least a month afterwards. I'd go wanna sleep whenever I wasn't at work.

I used my vicodin for 3 or 4 days after my surgery. My port site was very painful. I took 2 weeks off of work. I'm a nurse so there's usually some lifting involved . But if I worked in an office I think I'd have been fine after a week.

Cathy you hit it right on. I'm a nurse and worked in rehab for a time. I've often used that logic to explain food addiction to people. Could I have told one of my heroine addicts they were fine as long as they only shoot up once a day. Or a crack addict you'll be fine as long as you only smoke a few rocks? Naturally thin people don't understand what it's like to have an addiction to a substance that you can't eliminate from your life. If we could just stop eating and hit the gym don't they think we'd have done it a long time ago. And don't we all love the smug , superior tone thin people use when they tell us that? Like they're perfect and were lazy slobs with no self control

a for the advice guys. I feel a little better today. I think it's a combination of being swollen & sick at the same time. & I'm gonna stick to soup for most of the day. If that goes well I might try some yogurt later on

I think the post was a good one. I think when I see people say they're worried about scars or that they're too scared of needles to get fills it seems a bit whiny. None of us like throwing up or the getting fills. And I've got a surgeon that dosent believe in lidocaine. And yes there are people that have true severe problems from the band. I'm a nurse and I've seem 1st hand how terrible severe reflux can be. But for people that are worrying about scars and needle pokes. For those that the band truly works for those things are a relatively small price to pay . Would I rather have scars than be heavy. Heck yes . Would I rather have occasional vomiting & heartburn or look the way i do now and feel better about myself. Again hell yes.

I went for my 2nd fill this past monday. I'm now up to 4cc in a 10cc band. I felt really tight and threw up a lot the 1st few days. I assumed this was due to swelling and would subside. Well lucky me , I got strep throat 2 days ago. So now I can barely keep anything down but liquids. Am I too tight or just still swollen from being sick? So my question is how long do I stick this out before I call the doctor? Right now I can't even keep down mashed potatoes.

Myself personally I eat healthy most of the time. But if I'm at a party or a family meal I do induldge a bit . But one of the great things about the band for me is even when I'm bad I can't be anywhere near as I was in the past. I used to be one of those people that just liked to eat. And was always on the go so I'd mindlessly stuff things in my mouth. I think the biggest benefit of the band to me so far is teaching me to eat slowly , chew and really enjoy my food. I was at a birthday party last Saturday . I ate a small piece of cake. Because I took my time I really enjoyed it. I was every bit as satisfied with that piece as I used to be with one 3x the size. Actually maybe even more so because I didn't feel all guilty afterwards I think a big part of this journey for slot of is establishing an eating pattern that's healthy but dosent control every aspect of life. So my advice to anyone is if you have a nagging cravingis to satisfy it and be done with it. For me part of getting thin is leading a normal life. And even the thinnest , healthiest people I know all believe in an occasional treat.

I was banded on 2/24/09 . I've lost 33 pounds so far. And have gone down a clothing size. I look and feel alot better. My energy level is definitely way up there. I've been stuck at the same spot for a few weeks but I just had my 2nd fill yesterday. Do far I'm definitely happy with my decision.

I'm definitely up for an exercise challenge this week. I've been kind of stuck the last week or so. I had a fill today (finally). So combining that with upping my exercise might get me going again. I really wanna make my birthday goal!

HEY BIRTHDAY GIRLS! how was everyones weekend? mine sucked. i've only had 1 fill and have like no restriction. so far i've been doing this mostly on willpower but i am startimg to get weak. im gonna try and add in some more exercise this week, and try to get things moving again