chriper

Hello fellow Bandsters
 
Well let's see I haven't been around because life's been a whirlwind lately (see previous post) but I had to post about my worse day yet. After playing yo-yo with the same five pounds over the last five months, I went in and got a fill on Tuesday. I tried to stay on the liquid diet for the three days but with my active lifestyle it was very difficult so i ate a light dinner each night. Wed night I had catfish, no problems, and last night I had chicken and I didnt think there was a problem either. But then I woke up in the middle of the night for a bathroom run and while up I took a swig of juice and laid back down. Something was wrong the juice wasn't going down. I got up and made it to the bathroom before the juice came up. Being exhaused I just climed back into bed and continued sleeping.
 
Well today has been aweful! Everything that I've tried to eat/drink has come back up. I tried hot tea, came up. Cold tea, came up. A swig of Coca Cola, it came back up. Breakfast came up, lunch came up, snacks came up. So i hit up the site to see what suggestions were out there. I'd walked to work and on lunch and it wasn't helping. I tried jumping up and down and still no relief. Now mind you I'm not in pain but anything that goes down comes back up. I saw the post on women who experience tighter restriction during their menstrual periods, considered that to be the culprit but refused to continue to endure like this and didn't want to have any fluid taken out. Then i saw it. The post about papaya pills and pineapple juice (both enzymes). Off to the nearest store, a Walmart Express. To my relief they had pineapple juice. I started drinking as I walked back from the store and won't you believe it, it works! it works! it works! So if you ever experience the "stuck sensation" grab a bottle of Dole pineapple juice. 6oz is only 100 calories and its worth it!
 
 

OK all I had my annual Christmas visit home to Michigan. I don't know what I was expecting, but what I wasn't expecting was for no one to mention my weight loss! Maybe its becuase over the years I made such a fuss about someone always asking me about my weight that now they just don't approach the subject. My brother casually said I can tell you've lost a lot of weight but that's about it. My sister (always my champion) told me i was looking good, and my mother didn't say a word. But I gather she said a lot to my grandmother whose down in Memphis. When I talked to Granny she said oh I hear you're still coming down, your face is slimmer, etc, etc...Amazing they couldn't say it to me but they said it to her.
 
Anyhoo I did good on the food front. Even though I was looking forward to an authentic chilli dog I didn't have one. Nor did I go to greek town, or any other of good eating in Detroit. I guess knowing its always there helps me to overcome the "need" to have it. And with my grandma out of town I didn't have to worry about peach cobbler and sweet potatoe pies.
How did you all do over the holiday?

Do I regret getting banded?
 
That seemed to be the question I most wanted answered when I came here about a year ago looking for information and support.
 
A lot has changed in a year. I am a little less than halfway to my goal now and losing slowly and steadily. 40-whatever pounds doesn't seem like much for a year but I have lost a lot of baggage along with that weight. Like most fat people, each pound had a story attached to it. Each ounce was directly related to a rejection, a sad moment, a time when I didn't even feel worthy enough to express an emotion so I ate it instead. And I can't say that the changes in me are directly related to the lapband, but just making the choice to do it had a profound effect on how I talk to myself and therefore, how I view my own worth.
 
The most important thing I do differently now is refuse to settle.
 
I won't fill my body with shitty food because it's cheap or because I don't want it to go to waste.
 
I won't stay in relationships that aren't uplifting and fulfilling.
 
I wont belittle myself by behaving in a way that isn't true to me,
 
I won't do work that deadens my soul.
 
I don't spend time and money trying to find a less-expensive version of a particular "thing" I want. I save for it and get the real deal because I am worth it.
 
I have learned that what we settle for is what we get out of life and I absolutely refuse to accept less than what I am worth these days.
 
So yeah, there are parts of having a band that suck. I hate sliming and sticking and getting coffee "stuck" because I am too stressed out sometimes to get it past the band. And, I haven't lost as much weight as I thought I would by now. But would I change it?
 
NOT ON YOUR LIFE> OR MINE.