btrieger

I don't use the menu part. I cannot plan meals in advance. You'll get used to it. I only take mine off to shower. But I don't wear sleeveless shirts. If you're arm goes numb, you have it too tight.

Wow! Congrats Kel!! That's a lot of weight to keep off. I wonder how Paula (th OP) is doing 5 months later. My goal is 5 pounds short of posting here and I feel like I am under age and sneaking into a club.

I can't make resolutions. They bring too much depression and guilt when I cheat or fail. Also, I am a guy and we hate commitment.

Thanks. Actually, "software engineer" is in my title somewhere. An approaching birthday kicked this all off. I had my first consultation a full week prior to the heart ache. But the heart attack did help quit smoking. So, maybe it is what is helping me stay on track now. I guess we can assume that heart attacks are tools for immediate weight loss and the lapband for long term? :Dancing_wub:

Love the cartoon YM! After seeing somebody start the "Do some research" thread yesterday and seeing the responses I have gotten here; I realize it is not in my head and I am not the only one concerned. I'm not even banded yet and it seems I know a lot more than a lot of the bandsters. I know I will still have a few questions once banded and I hope there are enough qualified people to give me good answers. "Don't worry, once you get fills you will start losing weight" is NOT a good answer!

After years of denial and apathy I finally decided to have the surgery. Like many of the pre-ops that post here, I am very skeptical but what have I got to lose? Insurance is covering the costs and at the very worst it is just another of my hundreds of failed diets. My initial visit with the surgeon was this morning and I guess we won't even be setting a date until January 6th next year. I guess until then I will keep reading up on everyone else's progress; dream of the day when I can put on my socks and tie my shoes in less than 10 minutes and not be out of breath when done; practice drinking flat beer and actually use the gym membership that I've paid $30 a month for over 2 years and have never been inside.

Use a couple of the tax dollars you are stealing and buy a dictionary. I show plenty of apathy every day. ap⋅a⋅thy  [ap-uh-thee] –noun, plural -thies. 1. absence or suppression of passion, emotion, or excitement. 2. lack of interest in or concern for things that others find moving or exciting. 3. Also, ap⋅a⋅thei⋅a, ap⋅a⋅thi⋅a [ap-uh-thee-uh]. Stoicism. freedom from emotion of any kind.

I got on the scale this morning as I do every morning because I never listen to the little voice that says once a week is enough. Well, anyways, it said 305. I am down 60 pounds, 15% of my starting weight since I started this journey. I am NOT dieting. I am eating the same things. I just cut the portions a little and am logging everything. I don't go to bed hungry like I always have on other diets. I have NOT been working out. I have been walking and doing a teenie bit of running about 5 hours a week. I stretch for about 5 minutes every morning and pick up my 10 lb dumbbell for about 10 minutes 2 or 3 times a week. But I am not waking up sore like I have from other work outs. I have NOT been banded. I've lost a lot of weight and post on this site a lot with my cool little ticker. But I have not been banded yet like other posters. A lot of my weight loss has been with the help of the Bodybugg. Other has come from the nutritionists at my surgeons office. I will schedule my LAP-BAND® surgery in 6 days. It will probably be for the first week of February. I am having second thoughts. I am doing so well without the LAP-BAND® that it has me wondering if I need it at all. I am still about 80% - 20% in favor of getting it but that number is dwindling. This scares me because I have lost a lot more than 60 lbs in the past only to gain it back and them some. But in the past I was dieting. This is different. And if I decide not to get banded I have to stop being sarcastic and witty here :Dancing_wub: I guess only time will tell.

My weight loss has been dead on for practically the last 3 months! The burn and consume numbers aren't always dead on but the delta is correct. My activity has been way down this week due to not having to work and altering my routine.

CONGRATS!!! And this was during the holidays. Keep up the good work and don't get complacent. The lapband isn't doing the work. YOU are working hard and the lapband is just along to help.

Do not rush things. You have a lifetime to decide. Diets don't work for most of us. Diets have end dates and when they are over we have changed our metabolism and gain back more than we have lost. Weight Loss Surgery means changing your lifestyle forever. That can mean enjoying the same foods you always have except eating smaller portions or it can mean having to give something you love up forever. Everybody is different. The most important thing you will learn is that the lapband is a tool. The lapband, no matter how much you fill it does NOT make you lose weight. YOU lose the weight yourself by eating less calories than you are burning. The lapband is there to help you feel full after only a few mouth fulls. YOU do the rest. There are rules to follow and you must be ready to follow them FOREVER. Do more reading. Read the failure stories as well as the successes. Make sure you are doing it for yourself and nobody else.

You don't really have to set the goals but it doesn't hurt. What matters is the difference between calories consumed and used and that will work no matter what the goal is set at. You can change the burn or consume level without creating a new plan. However, the other number will automatically adjust to whatever your calorie difference is set to.

Congrats! It's good to hear about the painless surgeries as my time approaches. Was there a lot of sitting around boring time or did they shoot you up and drag you off to surgery immediately then wake you up and send you on your way?

I don't find it clicky at all. I've never seen a post go unanswered in the forums. Not everybody reads blogs.

I'm about 2 weeks behind you with surgery but I don't see why anything special would need to be done for a liquid diet. I just checked and there are Protein Shakes in the food listing.

140 is very possible but you'd have to be ready to work out 4 or 5 times a week for an hour or more. Did you use the calculator? It tells you how many calories you burn daily just being alive. For the measurements in your profile, that would be 2,072. Add 400 to that for walking around and exercise and it is 2,472. Meaning it you kept your intake to 1,172 calories a day, you'd lose 3 pounds a week. I probably lost you in the bunch of numbers but losing 140 pounds is definitely possible.

Everybody is different and there is no real answer to you question on what to expect. Of course you can lose 140 pounds in a year but it has nothing to do with the lapband. It has to do with how much work you are willing to put forth to attain that goal. Weight loss occurs when you burn more calories than you consume. The lapband makes you feel full faster. Hopefully, that will keep you from consuming an abundance of calories. In order to lose 140 calories in a year you'd have to burn an average of 1346 calories a day more than you eat. To figure out how many calories you burn every day, you can use this calculator BMR Calculator and add calories burned during exercise or you can purchase a Bodybugg or Gowear Fit device.

Print it out and stick it on the refrigerator to remind you why you not to cheat.

Anxiety is great!! It means that you realize that the lapband isn't a cure-all and there are changes you are going to have to make that will last forever! Do plenty of research and look at the failures, not just the successful results. Make sure you are ready to do what the successful people did and that you are strong enough not to fall into the same traps that the failures did. and good luck!

I'm sorry. The OP is gonna hate me for ruining her topic.

I am neither rightwing nor conservative nor leftwing nor liberal. You talked of single parents that don't care about or for their children. There are a lot more welfare scum like that than taxpaying divorcees. Liberal democrats have gotten disciplining children made illegal in most states. Liberal democrats also encourage adults to treat children as equals. Where is the discipline supposed to come from? If we aren't going to punish the children for the lack of upbringing that they receive then we are just perpetuating the problem. Getting this back on track, that is why I am all for my tax dollar supporting abortion and no other kind of health care.

CM, I am confused. How can you openly admit that you know that the baby mamas and their spawn are what is destroying this country and proclaim to be a liberal democrat? It is the liberal democrats that enable the derelict welfare scum to breed out of control by feeding and housing them.

Also realize that this is not an easy out. The lapband is a tool to aid you in your weight loss. It will only work if you work with it. If you are not ready to change your lifestyle and work with it, you will probably fail in the long run. Too many people don't bother understanding that until it is too late; they waste all sorts of time waiting for insurance approval; they have the lapband installed and then ask why the weight isn't magically disappearing. I am not trying to steer you away from the surgery, just advising that you do a lot of research. You'll have plenty of time to do the research while awaiting approval. Good luck. * I am not a bandster yet, nor do I play one on TV.

Oh my god! Are you trying to tell me that I won't automagically lose weight because I have the band? That I will actually have to watch what I eat and how much? Of course this is only until I get those magical fills. I have read so much that I will start losing weight after I get fills.