Banannie

I'm busy with work & life so don't post as much, so I'll probably be late in posting all my updates! Doh! Name........................Starting….......Curren t …...Goal….....To Go losingjusme...................293..............288 ..........266...........22 juliegeraci....................226..............22 6...........206...........20 areellady.....................251.5...........240 .5 ........230...........10.5 punkeyb88...................306.............238.. ..........225..........13 Chris_NJ......................326.............308. ...........290..........18 PaulaD........................222..............222 ............200..........22 MM............................248...............24 8............230.........18 sdakotaRN..................255...............255.. ..........230..........24.6 Babygrl1234...............224................218.. .........199..........19 faithmd.....................312...............308. ..........285...........23 Jan421......................267...............262. ...........247..........15 Metalband.................203...............196... ..........183...........13 tann........................223................211 ............198...........13 Banannie..................182..............175.2.. .........162...........13.2 Josette....................322...............322.. ..........299...........23 chickatee.................217...............213... ..........199...........16 beachgirl..................270..............220... .............155.........65 Marlluvia...................220.............220... .........200...........20 Jennifur....................222…............219... .........200..........19 KariK.......................179..............179.. ..........155..........24. MarCar.....................296............ 285.............276...........9 Punkeyb88................238............238....... ..... 220......... 18 Jadrad7....................243............230..... .......220..........23 Denise......................265...........259... .........240..........25 Wen.........................303...........299.. ...........285.........14 SWEETY...................217...........211........ ......199.........12 Lochnagar................249...........249.... ........221..........28 glinadb....................285…........278.6...... .....260..........18.6 Denise....................330............265...... .......240..........25 mel........................254.4........245.6..... .....230..........15.6 Amelia40..................285...........288....... .....255...........33 Crabby54.................257...........245........ ....232.........25 Sunny 112...............219...........181.............16 5........16

I chatted w/ Nat by e-mail, she's travelling for work - I'll call her a punk and see if it works Kirsten - good luck w/ the guy - just like w/ Nikki - I'd say give him one more chance then kick him to the curb! You deserve the best, and if he's not giving you the respect you DESERVE, then he doesn't deserve your energy or time!

Ok, someone who will remain nameless messaged me and called me a punk for not posting more, so here I am! This one'll be short but I promise to post more often... BOO - happy Bandiversary girlie - you've rocked it in year #1 - just wait to see what the coming year brings! Nikki - Give him one more shot w/ counseling, for the kids' sake, but then I'd personally say get rid of him - it's likely worse for the kids to see their parents unhappy as it would give them a bad example of what a healthy relationship is Brandi - what can I say, you rock girl! Shoot - gotta get ready for a meeting, gotta run, more later!

Julie you are amazing!!!!!!!!! :confused: Isn't that the best feeling???

D - I think it got everything out of it's system here in Seattle before heading over the mountains... and late July is a dry time for us so it doesn't take a lot for us to break records!

Tee hee! It just stopped this morning, so hopefully it'll blow over for you guys as well - you are now the proud recipient of one of the "storms" that caused us record July rainfall!

Yup, Deanna, I'll do a liquid party with you for the like 2 hours you have left on liquids! I'm going to try to do 2 weeks. With much less fill, I'm not sure if I'll make it that long, but man do I need to get back into the swing of things! I also have gotten out of the habit of chewing well and eating slow. That's exactly why I had to get a total of 0.8 cc's out (over 3 unfills) to correct a 0.3 cc "too much" fill! 'cause I'm eating too fast and I wasn't letting my irritated stoma heal. J - LOVE the bipolar band analogy! I agree, mine's like that some days... Well, I'm going to go to the gym today no matter what. Then, if I still have energy, I'm getting on my bike! Yippee - it FINALLY stopped freaking raining here! I figure I should be able to do at least 10 miles tonight on a flat paved trail.

Juli - I've also had the same thing happen - my body/muscles will hold onto water after an "extreme" workout. Do you realize that you had an "extreme" workout? Would you have done that 74 lbs ago? YOU ROCK GIRLIE! Isn't that SWEET!!! Good problem to have...

Just got back from the doc. That was interesting - normally my doc's office does "blind" fills - i.e. no flouro, just giving an amount based on how the patient feels, what they can/can't eat, hunger levels, weight loss. Since I couldn't even get liquids down they did Flouro to make sure everything was ok - how weird to watch! Pretty cool technology. Basically I was almost swelled shut so they took out 0.4cc's - now I've got some restriction but it should be relieved enough to let me heal. Yay, I can drink water!! I'm going on an all-liquid diet starting tomorrow (I'm too excited to have a few bites of "real food" today after having so much trouble the past week and a half that I want a "real food" dinner!). So that should help not only my morale but my stomach and my weight loss! With eating way more than normal carbs (i.e. the ice cream) the past few days, I'm up about 3 lbs, mostly water from the carbs and TOM "fun". Hopefully that'll be gone within a week! Thanks for your support - you guys are awesome!

Agh. I haven't exercised in a few days. I was embarassed to come on here - but I need your support! I'm *still* freaking too tight - I keep irritating my stoma and I can't even get enough water in to be hydrated, let alone have enough energy to exercise. It got bad Friday night, worse Saturday, and unfortunately, I figured out that ice cream went down better than water... now how weird is that? So, I've eaten ice cream the past three days. I feel like a freaking moron. I've been almost "cheat free" for 8 months then let this get to me. I've got an appointment in a few hours for an unfill, and I think I'm going to go on a liquid Medifast diet for a week or two to get all these carbs and sugar and crap out of my system. I want to bike this week! I'm going to commit to you guys that I need to do at LEAST 30 miles this week (I'll still need a day or so to get my energy back after the unfill, I don't want to hurt myself!). So that's 3 10 mile rides, or 2 15 milers, etc. Doable from Wed-Sat!

I'm thinking it's just me at the moment. I'm feeling a bit "sorry for myself" since I'm trying to be really, really strict with my diet so I can get this last 35lbs off in time for a late Nov/early Dec Lower Body Lift. Once I get past the super strict diet phase, and lighten up a bit, I'm sure I'll have more fun enjoying time out with my friends. Right now it just feels like a really restrictive and not-fun diet. Which it is! But this work is working, and it's only for another 4 1/2 months... Thanks for everyone's replies, and keep them coming!

JC - thanks so much for sharing your story! I wish people weren't so rude. Obesity is one of the last known forms of acceptable discrimination and I hate that... You guys are all so strong and being active helps so much with self esteem, I really think we're all on track to SUCCEED! Deanna - you have restriction! Be happy that you have restriction without your fill, and don't be bummed that your weight loss has slowed to a still well above average pace - my average is 2-3 lbs/week, and look where I am 7 months out! Most people lose 1-2 lbs a week. You rock girlie! BTW I ate CRAP last night. I binged. I hate that! Even with my "binge" I calculated that I was still under 2000 calories but it was still crap food. I haven't binged in MONTHS... oh well, gotta pick myself up and dust myself off and keep going!

Deanna - if you're hungry outside of your TOM get a SMALL fill. If you can control your calorie deficit (calories eaten vs. calories burned) without great hunger, the fill is not going to do much for you. But I'm SO like you - I want it off NOW NOW NOW (yes I do want to throw a temper tantrum sometimes about all this!) I'm super impatient! JC - I'd also love to hear your side of things when / if you want to or have time to share. I'm a few days overdue in taking my 7 month pics. Maybe I'll get brave... maybe not. I did contact the therapist that's through my surgeon's office and she gave me a referral to someone closer to me who is super good but 1) also not on my insurance and 2) not super familiar with banding. So, if I'm going to do therapy, I'll probaby just have to buck up and pay out of pocket for this great gal that's an hour away... but I'm worth the cost & hassle, right? Its thunderstorming slightly here this afternoon so no biking for me again today...

Ok, here's my fill pattern (in a 4cc band) banded 12/14/06 1st fill 1/25/07 1.5cc's 2nd fill 2/6/07 up to 2cc's 3rd fill 2/14/07 up to 2.3cc's 4th fill 2/28/07 up to 2.7cc's (then my TOM hit...) 1st unfill 3/12/07 down to 2.5cc's 5th fill 4/9/07 up to 2.7cc's 6th fill 5/2/07 up to 2.9cc's (then my TOM hit again - you'd think I'd learn?) 2nd unfill 5/18/07 down to 2.5cc's 7th fill 5/30/07 up to 2.7cc's (shoulda stayed here, but noooo....) 8th fill 6/27/07 up to 3cc's (can ya guess? TOM again, third time's a charm) 3rd unfill 7/9/07 down to 2.8cc's (not quite enough...) 4th unfill 7/17/07 down to 2.6cc's

Juli - perfect way of thinking about fills. Believe me, you WANT to be able to eat and get your proper nutrition if you're really active! Being too tight just sucks! And yes, I got some snow white comments! BG - you are a TOTAL CUTIE! Love that it looks like you're on LBT on your computer...

How many of you at/near goal are finding you no longer have as much in common with your "old" friends? I'm noticing that I'm drifting away from them - they love to go to beer fests and brew pubs and the like, which is all fun when you're not trying to lose weight. I'd rather go biking or hiking or even just to the gym. Not to say I won't hang out with them or anything, but there's only so much fun in going out on a regular basis to places that you can't really enjoy things. Did many of you "change friends" after losing weight? I'm trying to figure out if this is just a phase (i.e. maybe I'm a little depressed because I'm being so strict on my eating and things will mellow out once I "lighten up"?) I'm on a mission to get this last bit of weight off so I can do a lower body lift in late Nov/early Dec - I have some early spring activities that I have to be recovered for so I can't push the LBL out, and want to get as much of the weight off naturally before going under the knife (vs. lipo).

Deanna, if you're losing 1-2 lbs a week consistently and are not starving/searching for food you don't really need a fill... once you get to the point that you're just plain hungry less than 3 hours after you eat, or your weight loss stalls, that's when to get a fill. Where I had my surgery is conservative on fills (no flouro, they "creep up" on the sweet spot) so I've had a bunch of fills, and a few unfills - I realized that I have to keep my band a bit looser 3 weeks of the month to survive it tightening up during our "monthly visitor" week...

Ok, I'm 5'6" with blue-gray eyes, and long brown hair. Fair skinned which is in contrast to the dark hair and light eyes, so often compared to a "porcelain doll" in the winter when I have less tan / sun coloring! Tee hee, now I sound like a personal ad! I race cars - through the Sports Car Club of America. The past few years I've focused on autocross, which is similar in nature to, say, downhill skiing where you have gates and slaloms, and it's against a clock. Precision driving at it's finest. (on pavement) I compete nationally and have a few National Championships to my name. I also have done track / wheel to wheel racing, which I'm getting back into in the spring. That's why I'm so focused on getting this weight off and plastic surgery - I need to be physically able to race (i.e. recovered from the lower body lift) and I'll need to buy a new race/fire suit for the wheel to wheel stuff. And since the "standard" sized suits are men's sizes, I'll have to do a custom one, and I only want to pay that $2K once!

Yes, we're certainly getting deep on here, but I love it! My age is in between what you guys are guessing - I turned 33 in March. Was married (no kids) and divorced him about a year and a half ago. My relationships certainly have changed over the past 10 years so Juli, I totally agree with that. I'm just bummed when all my buds are going out to a big dinner or something, and I'm trying to stay focused to get this last 35 lbs off so I can do my lower body lift in late Nov/early Dec. I would rather get it off naturally than having to resort to Lipo. I can't delay the surgery due to when my racing season starts, so I *have* to be super focused. So, it totally bums me out when they all go out to eat, and I can't... I think I do need to get a therapist. The lady who does our surgeon's psych evals is super cool, and banded, and would be great to work with but she isn't in my insurance plan and is also over an hour away from me. But, she may know someone closer to me that she can refer me to... I'll have to check into that! Anyhow, sorry to bring the vibe of the group down! Back to good ol' biking - I'm hoping the weather holds out so that I can get back on my bike in the next few days - it's been rainy here and the forecast for showers continues - I may have to try the bike out in the rain here sooner than I'd like!

Hi guys! Sorry I've been absent (again) Steph - does sound like you're too tight. You should be able to eat bandster portions of meat and veggies comfortably. Junk food will ALWAYS go down too easy! I had to throw out yet another package of Skinny Cow ice cream sandwiches the other day - I bought them thinking I could control myself, and realized that once I let myself open the package, I'd eat more than one. So I threw them out without eating even one... So I TOTALLY hear you on that! So I think I might be a little depressed. I realized last weekend that I really don't have much in common with my "old" group of friends - they all love going to brewpubs and eating pub food and drinking, partying at the races we go to (I race cars) and such. I'd rather go for a hike, or bike, or something. So, I realized I need to make new friends, otherwise this is going to get really lonely really quick... Not to say that I won't stay friends with this group, just that they won't be the people I hang out with on a regular basis since our activity preferences differ so much now. Sad...

EVERYONE is doing so great!!!!!!!!!!! Keep going! Only 6 1/2 weeks to go!

Also part of it is that I don't want pictures of myself on the internet, partially because I haven't told everyone I'm banded. Once I get to the point of sharing, I'd be more likely to do it by e-mail!

No, Deanna, no offense taken. I understand I've got some self esteem issues that I need to work through. I'm trying to focus on all the good things that have come from losing all this weight, rather than the saggy skin, etc. I still think of myself as the fat girl. But I'm not. My head hasn't caught up to my scales! Part of it is I think I'm a bit depressed because I've come to the realization that I don't have as much in common with my "old group" of friends any more and I'm going to miss that. They think the best thing to do is to go to a brewpub and drink and eat pub food, which I was all into before I started losing weight and got active. Now I'd rather go bike or go for a hike - while many of them say they'd want to go with me on a hike, they then say "oh, no elevation change" or "it's got to be easy" - which to me defeats the purpose, it then becomes a social event! So I think that's got me down a bit. Gotta pick myself back up!

I started noticing the hair loss at about 4 months from surgery. I've always been a "shedder" and my normal shedding is noticable as I have long dark hair. It just was much heavier shedding. I just hit 7 mo from surgery last Saturday and I'm still shedding a touch heavier than normal, but it's much more normal. I've heard that it's called telogen effluvium - I searched yahoo and one of the first articles I came across was this one Hair loss question about gastric bypass related hair loss And Juli - still WAY too self conscious and have too poor of self esteem to share pics. I'm getting closer to doing it though... maybe when my BMI is normal I'll get over my fat girl issues? Yes, I'm considering therapy since I've been told I'm now "hot" but in no way believe it! I think it's because I've got a lot of loose skin due to the rapid weight loss, and plastic surgery is still months (and about 35 lbs) away...

I took plenty of vitamins and ate lots of protein, and still had the thinning happen. After about 2 months of thinning it's slowed down a bunch and I can see regrowth. I don't think there's much you can do about it, unfortunately! Not to say you should ignore your vitamins or protein, but just know that won't prevent a darn thing!