cbreeden28

Do you see changes more clearly doing it this way. Like steady downward progress instead of up and down?

I'm not in the green zone yet, but I started dieting and exercise 6 months prior to surgery and in 11 months, I've lost 80 pounds. 33 of those pounds were lost post-surgery (Oct 2011) and the rest was between April and October of last year. At the beginning when I first drastically reduced my caloires and began exercising, I lost around 10 pounds per month. After the first 6 months, it slowed a bit and I know loose about 6-7 pounds a month. My doctor is happy with anything between 1 and 2 pounds weight loss per week. My goals are set up to lose 6 pounds a month just to be conservative. Once I hit the green zone, I hope to lose closer to 8 pounds a month. Good luck to you!!

I'm proud to announce that I am wearing the same pair of jeans that I wore when I met my husband 7 years ago. I haven't worn them in at least 6 years. They are a size 20, which is still huge, but considering I was in a snug 26, it feels fabulous. The NSV's are so much more rewarding than that number on the scales. My next goal is to get in a size that I don't have stuffed away in a drawer or closet somewhere. Because that means I get to go shopping!!! Not sure what my goal size will be. At 5'4" and a goal weight of 150, I would hope to be in a 8 or 10. I won't know how to act to go hunting sizes like that at the store and actually be able to find them. I'm super excited!!!!!

My fills are covered by insurance, but I have a $500 annual deductible. I got my surgery in October and the first few fills (Nov and Dec), I paid $23 because with the surgery, I had reached my deductible easily and then I paid 10% of whatever else I had done. Then, when insurance reset in January, my first fill cost me $229!! My insurance statement shows they billed them over $300 and after the discount for being a network provider, it brought it down to $229, but I have to pay it all towards by $500 deductible. The good thing is, 2 visits this year will satisfy my deductible for the whole year, but it's still a lot to pay out at once. I can't believe some of the prices people are paying for fills. All my fills have been blind (no xray) and they take about 10 minutes tops. That includes her talking to me and going over my eating plan and exercising.

What is the appeal of running? I'm still very much overweight and am just doing the walking thing for now, but I have friends who run also. Whenever I try to run, I get out of breath, my side cramps, and my legs hurt. Is it something that feels better after loosing a lot of weight. Right now, when I try to run, the impact on my knees and feet hurts so bad that I can't go very far. Just wondering what it is about running that causes people to do marathons and such. Right now, that is not one of my goals after weight loss, but a lot of people have it listed as one. What's the draw???

My go to snacks are as follows: Cottage cheese--i love it plain!! Fage 0% greek yogurt--I add a packet of splenda or fresh fruit Laughing Cow babybel cheese circles Laughing Cow cheese wedges Protein bars (Atkins, Pure Protein, Nature Valley*) Protein shakes (UnJury, Atkins) Tuna salad with light mayo String Cheese Sugar free Jello pudding w/ unflavored protein powder Pistachios Peanuts Peanut Butter Sliced lunch meat rolled up with a slice of cheese Pickled eggs *-Nature Valley makes a new Protein bar (10g) and they are crazy good. I tried the peanut butter dark chocolate and they taste like a candy bar to me. It's like cheating, but it's healthy for me.

My problem with this is that I have never been one to eat all of one food on my plate. I like variety and change it up (a bite of this, a bite of that). I can't just sit and eat all my protein, then all my veggies, and then carbs. It's too boring. I mix it up and it works for me. As long as you get all your protein in by the end of the meal, that's all that matters. And I have been successful with this method.

For those who can't eat turkey, chicken, or beef, how do you get your protein? Most all my protein comes from meat sources. There is no way I could get all my protein in if I couldn't eat meat. I refuse to live on protein shakes....I know their are eggs, cheese, and milk also, but meat is your biggest source of protein.

I understand you completely. When I started this journey in June 2010, I was told my surgeon wouldn't do the surgery on anyone with a BMI over 50. I was 53. I was told I had to lose 36 pounds in order to qualify for surgery. My thoughts were, "If I could that, I wouldn't NEED the surgery". I did try for about 3 or 4 months, but only lost about 5 pounds. I wasn't really dedicated though. I went through all the other testing (wellness, psych, nutritionist), but I just couldn't get the weight down. So, I gave up. I didn't think about it anymore and moved on. Then, in April of 2011, I got a call from the doctor's assistant. She asked me to come in for a consult again. I had gained 14 pounds since my original meeting a year before. I was devastated. When would it end?? I, like you, got pregnant in 2009, and after having my baby, I wasn't paying any attention to what I ate and wasn't active. I was 318 the day I gave birth in Dec 2009. A year and a half later in April 2011, I was 326. I made a decision that day to do something. I joined myfitnesspal.com and started to log all my food. Anything that went into my mouth, I logged. I set it up to lose 2lbs a week. I logged my food and exercise and I started loosing 5 pounds a month like clockwork. I wasn't loosing the planned 2/week, but I WAS loosing. I had to do the 3 months of supervised dieting for my insurance again, so I went in at the end of April and weighed 318. In May, I was 313. June was 308. And July was 302. While paperwork got submitted for approval, I continued my routine of eating right (under 1500 cals a day) and exercising at least 3 days a week. When insurance got approved at the end of August, I was 298. They went ahead and scheduled my surgery and gave me a start date for my pre-op diet. I lost 15 pounds on the pre-op diet. The day of surgery I was 280. I was so proud of myself for committing to it and getting it done. I too am now 30 years old and have been banded for about 5 months. I've only lost 30 pounds in those 5 months, but I've always been a slow loser. As long as the numbers keep going down though, I don't care if it takes me 5 years. I will get it all off. My advice to you is make small changes here and there. Take out all sugary drinks and caloric beverages. Then, remove all unhealthy Snacks (chips, candy, cookies). Replace them with Protein (cottage cheese, greek yogurt, string cheese, protein bars). Keep track of your calories and make sure you are in a deficit each month for what your body burns. Any exercise you can add is great also for muscle tone. The more muscle you have, the more calories you burn. Also, don't stress about the surgery itself. It was not nearly as bad as I imagined. The first day is the worst. I was sore and couldn't even get liquids down, but I got through it and so will you. The more you can walk that first day, the better you will heal. I had no gas pains that others talk about, but I walked from the moment they let me up. I can't stand laying in hospital beds. Good luck to you and I hope you can get through it. I know it seems like a lot, but with a few changes to your diet and lifestyle, it will come off.

Bread is my biggest problem. I don't even try it anymore. If we have hamburgers and hot dogs, I just eat mine without the bun. If I chew well and take my time between bites, I can eat anything. I think that is how it should be. You should be able to eat anything (as long as you eat slowly and chew well) and be satisfied on a smaller amount. I chose the Lapband to restrict how MUCH I ate, not WHAT I ate. I'm fine going without bread, was never a fan anyways. I eat everything in moderation. The few times I've gotten stuck, it was my own fault. I didn't chew well enough and ate too fast. I consider that food to be off limits until after I've tried it a couple times.

I'm 30 years old and have been overweight for about 15 years. My weight got really bad around my early 20's. I started this journey at 326 (my highest) and currently weight 255. I have not noticed any excess skin yet, but I have about 100 more pounds to reach goal. Are my chances of having a lot of excess skin likely? I do exercise and am loosing slowly (1.25 pounds/week), but I'm sure, since I was overweight for so long, that I will have excess skin in my stomach, butt, and thigh area. For those of you who have had surgery to remove excess skin, how much weight did you lose and how long had you been overweight. I will definitely have the surgery one way or another once I reach goal. For me, it will be a reward for all my hard work. If I reach goal, I want to look and feel good on the outside also.

I have BCBSIL and I started the process back in mid 2010. However, my BMI was too high for surgery and I couldn't get down to where I needed to be, so I just dropped it. The surgeon's office then contacted me in April 2011 and asked for another consult. I decided to go for it full force. I started my diet that month and she submitted the paperwork based on my previous appointments from 2010. At that time, they required 3 months supervised dieting and documentation of attempted weight loss with a program (WW, Jenny, LA Weight Loss). Then, in April, we found out their policy had changed to 6 months. My surgeon's office fought it since I had started the process in 2010. They then required me to do only 3, but it had to be 3 in the current year. So, I started in May and finished at the end of July. Paperwork was submitted in August and I was approved in about 2 weeks. My surgery was October 10th, but that was due to hospital scheduling, not insurance. Overall, BCBSIL hasn't been too bad, but I did get denied my first go around for failing to provide required documentation (because they changed their policy). The second submission was approved. It does take their approval process longer. Most hear back in a week or less, but they are very slow.

I think I'm starting to obsess over the scales and it could be causing me to plateau. I was banded Oct 2011. Since then, I have lost 25 pounds. I lost 46 pounds pre-op. So, total, I've lost 71 pounds. Here lately, my excitement about loosing weight has caused me to become obsessed with it. I think about it all day, everyday. I weight myself twice a day everyday. Could this be causing stress and no weight loss. I have tried to stop weighing so often, but I'm pulled to it like a magnet. I've been eating around 1300-1500 calories a day (this is per myfitnesspal.com for a 2 pound a week loss). I exercise about 45 minutes everyday. I have been stuck at 255 for almost a month. It's very discouraging. The lowest I've ever been as an adult was 235. I think I'm so excited about getting there again that I'm stressing myself over it. Does anyone know if stress like this can cause your body not to lose weight? Should I hide the scales and only weight in once a month?

I also choose Leslie Sansone's videos as my exercise. I had been going to them gym, but I didn't like the atmosphere and the traveling to get there. Now, I do my exercising at night after the kids are in bed. I alternate between 3 and 4 miles with the stretchy band. My DVD only as 1,2,3,&4 mile workouts. I'll have to try and find a 5 mile. I love her videos because she does a little bit of everything. Some evenings, I don't really feel like doing it, but I do. I will admit that some day's, I'm so tired from work that I only do the 2 mile walk, but I figure it's better than doing nothing. I'm in a plateau right now, so I'm going to step it up to 5 nights a week and see if I can get out of it.

Not being rude or anything, but 1,000 cals a day is very low. I would be starving and then risk binging on something. I haven't got to good restriction yet and just on my 1300-1500 cals a day, I'm still hungry, but I stop myself. I can't imagine going lower. I lost 46 pounds using the numbers from MFP and so have countless others. I don't think they are inaccurate. I calculated my on BMR for my weight and height and its like 2400. So, if I consume 1300-1500 good calories a day, it should equal weight loss. I don't forsee myself ever eating 1000 calories a day (unless I get to goal weight and can go longer between smaller meals). My dietician and PA reccommend I eat at least 1200 a day for healthy weight loss. If you drop below that, you risk putting yourself in starvation mode. But, thanks for all the advice on weighing only once a week. I think I will hide the scales somewhere and only get them out for my weekly weigh-in. We'll see what happens....

When I weighed myself at home on 2/6/12, I weighed 256. I was so happy because I had lost 2 pounds (I was 258 the previous Monday). I stuck close to my diet all week, but did cheat a few times with some crackers and sweets in the evenings. I still exercised each day though. Then, over the weekend, we had friends over and they brought Long John Silvers for dinner. I knew it was bad, but I didn't want to insult them, so I had 2 pieces of fish, 2 hushpuppies, and cole slaw. While we were playing cards, I also ended up snacking on brownies and Cookies that my husband had made. I knew it was bad and a no-no, but it had been sooooo long since I had those things. Well, Monday morning, I had an adjustment appointment and I weighed in at 261. I was so angry and mad at myself. I couldn't figure out how I gained 5 pounds in 1 week, but I bust my butt to only lose 2 pounds the previous week.... Is this possible, or was it possibly Water retention. My PA gave me a big lecture about carbs and how they affect blood sugar, insulin production, and fat storage. I felt like a little kid who had failed their science test. I weighed today and I'm back down to 258, which I'm happy about, but I'm still at a loss of the 5 pounds in 1 week. My scales are also very accurate. They are usually within 1 pound with my doctor's scales. I know there will be bumps in this road, but I didn't realize one cheat day would produce those horrible results. Needless to say, I'm back on the wagon this week and hopefully next Monday, I can see that 256 or less again....

I hadn't noticed it myself, but my husband noticed it and told me one night. I was mortified and embarrassed. Does it ever go away or subside? I brush, floss, and rinse my mouth twice a day.

I had surgery on 10/10/11. I have had 3 fills since then totaling 2.7cc's. My PA initally put in 3 cc's at my first fill, but Water wouldn't pass so she took 1cc out. Then, I got .5cc at my second and .2cc at my third. So far, I have noticed I need to chew well and slow down. I have gotten stuck a few times from eating too fast, but it has not helped with keeping me full for hours. I still get hungry about 2 or 3 hours after a meal. When will the band start helping me stay full? This is my biggest problem. When I force myself to wait for the next meal and struggle through the hunger pains, I find myself eating fast because I'm starving and then I get stuck. My foods consist of Protein shakes, cottage cheese, plain greek yogurt, tuna, chicken, salads, cheese sticks, Protein Bars, and nuts. I think I'm overeating sometimes because I try to eat more thinking that it will hold me over longer. I have only lost 20 pounds since surgery (about 5 pounds a month) and my stomach is still always growling. When will the physical hunger go away??

I do eat a lot of salads (lettuce, spinach, carrots, cucumbers, tomatoes), green Beans, and cauliflower. I'm not big on fruit. It is something I need to work on getting into my diet more. Until then, I get my Vitamin C from supplements. I'm hoping the next few fills I get will start to help with the constant hunger. I alway focus more on the protein because I know it's supposed to hold you over for longer.

I'm so looking forward to my band taking my appetite away. My biggest problem is that I'm always starving. I eat high Protein foods and I eat 6 times a day, but I still get hungry between meals. It also makes it difficult to eat slow and chew because by the time I can eat, I'm so starved, I want to shovel it in and then I get stuck. I have had 3 fills and the only thing I notice is that food gets stuck if I eat too fast or don't chew. It has no affect on my hunger pains and how long I can go between meals. Here is a sample of my diet: Bfast: Atkins Protein Shake (15g) Mid morning snack: Cottage cheese (14g) Lunch: Campbells chunky chicken Soup (16g) Afternoon snack: Atkins Protein Bar (19g) Dinner: Chicken, brocolli, Beans (30g) Evening snack: Atkins protein bar (10g) That's 104g of protein a day, low calorie, low fat diet, but in between those meals, my stomach is making such loud rumbling noises, I swear other people can hear it. When I get to my sweet spot, will this hunger stop. That is the hardest part for me right now.

Wow!! I can't believe so many got such big fills in the beginning. I have a 10cc band and my doc said the max she puts in for the first fill is 3cc's. She put that in on 11/21 and I couldn't get Water down. It hurt so bad and I threw up. She quickly took 1cc out and I felt much better. At second fill, she put in .5cc's (2.5 cc's total). Everything was fine after this one also. I did get stuck a few times due to not chewing or eating too quickly though. At third fill, she put in .2cc's (2.7cc's total). She said she is going to take babysteps from here until I reach the green zone. She expects me to hit the green zone around 3cc to 3.5cc's. According to her, it's uncommon for her patients to need more than 5cc's in a 10cc band. She has one patient with more than that (6.5cc's), but the majority of her patients are between 3 and 5cc's and are loosing. It amazes me to see how people have 7,8, or even 9 cc's in a 10cc band......I would think all you can eat is liquids and Soup....

Prior to surgery, I had been drinking the Special K shakes because they were SOO GOOD!! After meeting with the dietician, she asked me to stay away from these because of the sugar content and low Protein. You want a Protein shake that will give you between 20 and 30g of protein for little calories. My shakes of choice are Designer whey (from Walmart), Muscle Milk Lite (from Walmart), Atkins Advantage premade shakes (Walmart), and unjury (mail order). Of these, Atkins is my favorite, but they do have only 15g of protein. I use them for Breakfast usually and then eat cottage cheese or greek yogurt mid-morning when I loosen up. I would love to try the Premier shakes from costco, but I don't have a membership and won't get one because I don't buy anything else from there and don't feel like becoming a member just to buy my Protein Shakes from there. Protein shakes are a great way to get your daily protein in as long as you choose the right one. It has to be low caloire, high protein, low sugar.

I had my first fill on 11/21. She put in 3cc's, but I couldn't get Water down, so she took 1cc out, leaving 2cc's. Every since, I have had to really pay attention to how and what I eat. I've gotten stuck several times this past week and it's not a fun feeling. Has anyone ever gotten restriction after one fill and only 2cc's at that? Maybe this is just temporary.... I have lost about 4 pounds since last Monday.....partly because of the 2 days of liquid after the fill I guess....

I have about 65 more pounds before I can say that, but it will feel great!! I have always weighed more than him. I put on 91 pounds since we met, but even when we met, I was bigger than him. I have since taken off 65 of those 91 pounds gained. I'm feeling great, but can't wait to get to goal weight!! Good luck

I wish I could report your results. I was banded 10/10/11 and from surgery date to today, I have only lost 18 pounds. I really struggled over xmas break. I wish I was further ahead than what I am, but I know it will come. I just have to get back on track. I have had 2 fills so far and have 2.5cc's in a 10cc band. I don't feel restriction, but I do get stuck sometimes and that diminishes my want for food. I hate getting stuck. I go for another fill Monday, I'm hoping to start losing 8-10 lbs a month. Since surgery, I've lost about 5-6 a month. I would be thrilled with your weight loss and you should be too!! Keep up the great work and ignore people who don't understand the process.