Startingoverat50

This questions is exactly what I have been asking myself the last couple of days. For some reason I have been really struggling with stopping when I am full. I know the signals but I have been pushing past them and then I am miserable. Then to make it worse even when I feel stuffed I start craving something else. I am 10 months out and I still struggle with the head hunger thing constantly. I guess it will just never get any easier. Atleast I have the band to limit me from totally going crazy. I have to keep reminding myself that the band can't do it all. I have to exercise some willpower or this will not work and that is just not an option.

Welcome! I joined that club a couple of weeks ago.

Whillow I have been where you are. Believe me. I had not been under 200 pounds since my youngest child was born over 16 years ago! I had my surgery last May and finally hit ONEderland a couple of weeks ago. I like you thought it was impossible to get there, but you will. The difference between now and in the past is you have this wonderful lapband tool. It doesn't matter how fast you get there. Just take it a day at a time, keep getting fills as you need them and enjoy the moment when you get there!

Dawnana I am sorry you are struggling. A 15cc band is pretty large and I am sure will take several fills to reach restriction. I have a 10cc band and have had about 8 fills. I am at about 6.5cc, and I have good restriction now. Don't give up. Tell your Dr. you are not getting any restriction yet so he will let you get fills more often. As far as eating you can eat what you did before as your band allows, however you really need to make sure you get protein first. I have not been a calorie or carb counter. All I have really done is make sure I eat protein first no matter what. If I am still hungry I will eat some vegetables, fruit and even carbs. The protein really works to fill you up fast and keep you full. Also, make sure you are drinking atleast 64ozs of water every day. I was very intimidated in the beginning and worried am I eating the right things. Finally, I just decided this didn't have to be that difficult. If you follow the rule of protein first, the band will work for you once you have restriction. Finally, there are a lot of great people on these boards with loads of knowledge and experience. If your Dr. is not providing you with all of the information you need, I am sure you can get all of your questions answered here by the people who know what you are going through. You have a great tool in this band. Don't give up on it. Keep getting fills until you get restriction. It will happen.

Yes, I need to do the picture thing. I have always avoided having my picture taken and that resistance still hangs on. I need to do it so that maybe then I can really see how I look. Like someone said above, I still am not seeing how much I have changed when I look in the mirror, but then I never really saw how big I was either before I lost the weight. It was always right there though whenever someone took my picture.

Saturday I decided to venture to the mall to find a couple of new things for my wardrobe. When I got to there I immediately went to my favorite Plus Sized Store. I found a couple of things I liked right away and headed back to try them on. I took size 1X into the dressing room with me and they were too big. I went back for the 0X size the store carries and they were also too big. The oddest feeling came over me. I was a little sad. I had been shopping in this store for years. I know the sales people and they know me. It dawned on me that I would no longer be shopping in my favorite store. I was really sad. I left and wandered around the mall, but I felt lost. I guess I am grieving a little bit for my old self. I know this sounds really stupid. I should be thrilled that I can now shop in the regular misses department. I will get there, but I guess I just need a little time. Boy, there really is a lot of mental work that goes into this weight loss stuff. I knew about the physical part of it, but I am just beginning to realize how it is so much more than that. It takes a while for the brain to catch up with your new body. Anyone else feel this way?

I get the runny nose too. If I get the hiccup, I am in trouble! That is my sign that I have pushed it too far.

I just came back from getting a fill. It is no big deal! In fact I look forward to it because it means I am going to see the scale go down. After you get this first one behind you, you will look forward to them too!

Thanks. I think I will give them a try.

I have never heard of these but I am interested. I have difficulty always getting in enough protein and I am not a big fan of protein shakes. Do you just use them once or twice a day. Give me some ideas on when and how often to use these, do you mix them with other drinks, drink them straight, what??

Mandy Just hang in there. That is exactly where I was a few weeks ago. It seemed like I would be down a couple of lbs and then back up again. Onederland was my goal for the Valentine's Day Challenge and I didn't make it. Slowly though a pound at a time I got there and you will too.

Thanks so much. I was banded on May 5th, 2009 so I am not quite 10 months out.

No I don't. It is great to see that the lbs I have left to lose are less than half of what I have already lost. I am on the downhill slide. I know the remainder will come off more slowly but I am ok with that. I know it will happen.

I hit onederland today and it feels onederful!!! First time I have been under 200 lbs in many years. I am so thankful for my band and this wonderful site. Thank you both for being their for me. I couldn't have done it without you!:eek:

Patsal Everyone is different and has to find their own full indicators. For me I have gone too far when I hiccup. I need to stop when I start to feel pressure in my chest. It can be so difficult sometimes. I just want to take one more yummy bite, but I have learned not to push it. It is just not worth the pain.

I am married to a man who has trouble keeping weight on. I also have a teen age son who runs on the thin side. I don't think it would be fair to rid the house of the foods they love because I can't have them. Part of this whole experience for me is learning to think of food in a healthier way. In the past I would eat just because the food was there whether I was hungry or not. Now, I have to think about why I want to eat it, if it is because I am really hungry I allow myself to have it. Whatever it is. If it is because I am bored, depressed, whatever I try to resist the temptation. Do I always win out? No, but I do more than I don't. In the past believe me it was the other way around. I let them have their favorite foods in the house. It is their home too.

I know this seems like such a drastic step now, but once you have been banded it just becomes a way of life. I was banded last May and have lost almost 70 pounds. I am just one pound away from being under 200 pounds for the first time in twenty years. My health problems haven't disappeared totally but they are greatly improved. I am so much more active, exercise regularly and just plain feel so much healthier. My family is constantly telling me how strong I am, how they couldn't do what I have done. I just don't get it. The lapband has made this journey so much easier. I could never do this on my own. All I can think when they say that to me is I am so lucky to have had this surgery. It is saving my life so that I can get to know my grandchildren. I am not any stronger than anybody else. I just have a wonderful tool that is helping me along every day. I am going to get to my goal weight and continue to use this tool to help me maintain that weight.

Yes!!! Hiccups are my clear warning that I had better stop, but am I smart enough to always listen. I wish. I agree with the above poster who said it is just best to follow the band rules. Much less painful, but sometimes I want to eat more than a few bites and that gets the best of me. I don't let it get me down though, I just try to do better the next time.

I am so close. I keep bouncing around 201 or 202. I had cranked up my exercise to get their quicker and then I got sick with fever and cough, so I haven't been exercising at all for the last few days. I am feeling better though so starting tomorrow I am getting back into my exercise routine. While sick atleast I didn't have much appetite so I haven't gained any weight. I want to see that one on the scale so badly. I haven't seen it in many years. I will probably scream with joy when it finally happens.

Why would being on antibiotics slow down weight loss? I have never heard that before.

I guess I never thought that allowing myself to have a picture taken would be a good thing. There has just been too many years of cringing when I saw photos of myself. My daughter made the comment the other day that she had been looking at her wedding photos. She said, "Mom, you don't even look like the same person". I went and looked closely at those photos. She is right I don't look like that anymore when I look in the mirror. If I am being honest with myself though, I never saw that when I looked in the mirror. That is so strange. Why do pictures still hold so much fear for me? I guess it is because somehow I fooled myself into believing for years that I wasn't that big. Then I would see myself in a picture and get a huge dose of reality. I am afraid that I am still seeing something in the mirror that really doesn't exist. My kids and grandkids are coming this weekend. I am going to have someone take a picture of me with my grandbabies, and dog gone it I am going to frame it!

Even after losing almost 70 lbs I still don't want to see a picture of myself. I have avoided having my picture taken for years, and as a result I have very few of them with my kids. I regret that so much. A few years ago we celebrated my parent's 50th Wedding Anniversary and of course that meant a family photo. I remember when I saw those pictures. I loomed like a giant over everybody else in my family. That really sucked. It is painful to even look at them. I am really starting to have people comment on my weight loss now so maybe I need to just get over it and have my picture taken. I just don't want to be disappointed. I am starting to like what I see in the mirror, but pictures are different. They don't lie.

To GGQ I received your private message but I can not respond to you through that site. My computer is not allowing it. Please email me directly at cszlomke@charter.net.

I feel so strongly that it was the best decision I ever made that I have absolutely zero regrets. Just let anybody try and take my band from me. I LOVE MY BAND!!!!!!!!!!

The Wii Fit Plus has everything on the Wii Fit and more. If you can buy the Board with the Wii Fit Plus you will save money in the long run because once you get Wii Fit Plus you probably will no longer use your Wii Fit DVD. If I had it to do over again I would skip the Wii Fit and go right to Wii Fit Plus. You can still go at your own pace with all of the activities you just get more choices in Wii Fit Plus.