Angera

I know it's too early to tell what my body will look like in the end, but I could use some advice. I am noticing that the part of my stomach below my below my belly button into my private parts is looking really good, nearly flat and smooth. The part from belly button up on the other hand is still bulging, i'm noticing my skin getting a little wrinkly. I still have a little over 100 more pounds to lose, what do you guys suggest I start doing to work that part of my tummy? It's always been where I carry the most weight and seems to be the part that's giving me issues now. I thought that once I reach goal, this part of my belly will definately go down, but what can I do now to start helping it out. I'm hoping to avoid plastic surgery and live what what I got. I know being well over 200 pounds overweight and overweight all my life, i'm not expecting a miracle of skin shrinkage to happen, but i want to help it out as much as i can. any suggestions? my exercise routine right now is a biggest loser dvd and walking. Thanks!

Thank you all for the kind words. I was truly taken back by the happenings of this week. I had gotten so consumed with numbers, smaller clothes that I lost focus of the most important aspect of this journey...........my health! It's so easy to get lost in a world of "being skinny", but at the end of the day it's the "being healthy" part that matters most. I've been with my family the past few days and it's so overwhelming. Too much food everywhere and i'm not used to eating the way they do anymore! My dad and his siblings (9 of them total) grew up very poor. In their adult lives, they've always had problems with "excess" when it came to food. They never wanted to go hungry as they did when they were younger, so they tend to make too much or buy too much food. I think this is the root or where my food problems arise. My dad had a tendency to always buy so much food and cook so much and well I ate so much! While thankfully, I have never known what is it to go hungry because of a lack of resources, I've had to retrain my brain to think that excess isn't always good. Tonight is my uncle's memorial service, I can truly say that my time here has been such a great experience. I've spent a lot of time with my dad's siblings. I love looking at my family and seeing how each one of them have shaped the person that i've become. I am truly blessed. I've heard people are shaped by the things they experience in life. I've experienced so much sadness and I know the best is yet to come. I firmly believe through all the sadness will come my greatest happiness in life.................living it to the fullest in my "healthy body"

In 2004, I lost my dad's eldest brother to diabetic complications, he was on dialysis and an amputee. Today I can't help but flash back to December 22, 2005. It was the day I lost my dad. He was diabetic, overweight, and suffered from every ailment under the moon when it came to his weight. He was nearly 450 pounds when he passed away at the age of 54. He never took care of himself. The night he died I remember him telling me he needed to work on his weight because it was getting out of control. I was 21 years old and at the time probably weighing 340lbs. Within and hour of that conversation with my dad, he was dead. I have a cousin that was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, entered her adult life and kidney failure hit, dialysis set it, and it was downward spiral. She passed away on Sunday of complications from her dialysis. We had her services on Tuesday. I prayed and counted my blessings that I have not yet followed in her footsteps. I'm going to miss her terribly, she was 29. This morning, I had a phonecall from my brother. He said "Uncle Ray just died." So many things ran through my mind including the thought that it was a joke and wasn't happening. It was that feeling I felt when I lost my dad. He too was diabetic, on dialysis, and suffered from all the same ailments as my dad but worse. Today, I see how precious life is and how important this band is in allowing me to live another day on this earth and become healthy.

chicken salad, tuna, and chili are always my go-to meals. I am able to make a lot of it on one day and store it in small containers for lots of meal throughout the week. When I can, I like to prepare extra meat with dinner to make sure i have left overs. I also keep kashi oatmeals in my desk for emergency breakfast situations. Another thing I do once a month is boil some eggs and keep them in the fridge, always ready when i'm in a rush and need something FAST! Hope this helps!

Thanks everyone, it just really threw me off that my family was weird about it! I figured living 5 hours away from them and physically not seeing them in 5 months, they would've had some sort of reaction! It's o.k. though, my mom is really happy about everything and she was just thrilled about my progress. Mommy always knows best

DId anyone see the biggest loser last night? The final four went home to reveal themselves. It really got me thinking. It's so made for T.V. right, do families really react like that? I mean, it got me feeling terrible about how unresponsive my family has been about the fact that i've shed over 80 pounds. I hadn't seen any of them since about two months before surgery, I went home for thanksgiving with an 86 pound weight loss and I truly was expecting the "WOW, OMG, you look great!" the shock, but it was so the opposite and made me think that I hadn't done enough................I know I should just aim to please me, but a little family reinforcement and positive feedback would be nice!! Perhaps i'm just being oversensitive, but I really felt like for once I had a huge weight loss accomplishment and it was just another day in the neighborhood for everyone else...........is it wrong for me to have expected my family to have had that "HOLY COW BIGGEST LOSER REVEAL MOMENT"????? Am I being oversensitive? I had one aunt say "yea, i guess you've lost some weight, but not a lot". I had my 8 month pregnant sister saying "oh no, you might catch up to me on weight" and I had another aunt saying "yea you look o.k., but you should cut your hair different".............good grief, it's like i was damned if i do lose the pounds and damned if i don't! I guess the good news is, my husband thinks I look amazing and i agree :wub: On another note, I cannot wait for the finale next week!!! I'm hoping Ada makes it to the final 3!!!

I was laying down and yelled at my husband to run over because i thought i had a tumor in my abdomen................I grabbed his hand and put it on the hard spot of my abdomen........he laughed and said "those are your ribs"! HAHAHA!! The other nsv is: When I went home for thanksgiving, I raided my sister's closer and took everything she doesn't use. I grabbed a size 16 jacket and thought well someday. I put it on this morning and don't look like a total sausage! It doesn't quite button all the way, but hey definately an improvement compared to those size 28 shorts i had to wear this past summer!!!

I'm happy to read you are going to see your nutritionist and doctor! I'm confident you will get to the bottom of what's going on. I, myself was stuck at the same weight the past couple weeks. It was totally my fault though, that grazing really caught up witih me and halted my weight loss. I've taken it back to the basics in an effort to get the ball rolling, so far it's going good. I hope things turn around for you soon! Good luck

was stuck at the same weight for 2.5 weeks, and finally lost a pound, woohoo! lol I'm still going to work hard to reach this goal by the new year, but we'll see what happens I got terribly sick yesterday and went in this morning for a tiny unfill. So far i'm able to get my liquids down now, we'll see how it goes from here on out! hope everyone is well and having a great start to their week.

Good grief, thanksgiving made me feel like i'd fallen off the wagon! I didn't eat large meals, but I did find myself grazing on cheese, pieces of turkey, and bites of desert. I'm scared to get on the scale and see what the damage is! I am getting back on track today and going to try and detox my body, so to speak. I am back in my own home, my own elements where I KNOW I keep no temptations! I'll check my weight on Friday instead of Monday! Tonight, i'm hitting the walking trails! Good luck everyone, we're entering the final month of our challenge! Keep up the hard work and push yourself just a little more! I know I am, it will be so worth it

Don't be discouraged. Without the band, you could have easily gained weight! Take it back to square one, measure your food, count your calories, carbs, Protein, etc. Start an exercise program. It's so easy to get down about what's not happening with your body. Use it as motivation to get back on track. Many before us have accomplished wonders with this band, and you can too. Good luck

Absolutely fantastic! You look great!! congrats

Dinner is baked chicken and green beans. YUM!

Jumped on the scale today just for the heck of it and it said 278! That means i've hit my halfway mark! Very exciting. I'm getting close to 275, which I haven't remembered weighing since I was 14! Today I appreciate my band so much! Good luck to everyone and have a great weekend

After reading this post, I think I want chili for lunch :rolleyes2:

Down two more pounds since last week Everyone is doing great! Keep up all the hard work! GOOD LUCK!

I got into a fight with a hamburger patty this Saturday. I was helping out my friend with her kid's birthday party and they made burgers and hotdogs. Hotdogs had already given me an issue before so i didn't bother. I went for the patty plain, no bread, no veggies, etc. BIG PROBLEMS there! I hadn't tried a hamburger patty since my last fill so I guess it's a no-no for me. Me and eggs are still friends though.

I asked my mom to keep thanksgiving low key this year. No extended family, just siblings and their wives/children. I grew up in a family where pigging out is the norm and nearly 60% of them are overweight. I knew that having other people around watching me eat thru this first banded holiday would be strange for me. I didn't want the comments, questions, etc. I wanted to be distraction free since this band thing is still so new for me! I've explained to my family that I want them to have food ready early in the day so I can take the entire day to have three small meals, eating different things each time! After my last fill, i've come to realize, pigging out is NO OPTION any longer! Strange feeling, but also very reassuring to me to know that my band is doing what it is supposed to do! Good luck everyone, I hope you are able to overcome these food demons on the holidays! And if you can't, don't beat yourself up over that bite of pie. If all else fails, head out shopping on Friday and walk it off!

A similar issue happened to me. The difference was, my benefits were changing to no longer cover surgery. I was cutting it close by a month. I was able to work with the insurance and doctor and get approved earlier than anticipated. I was one appointment short of that required by insurance. I called my insurance over and over and over to finally talk with one person that said "yea just go ahead and submit early"..........Keep on top of it! Don't give up.........it's a life event that's worth fighting for!

good to know, i hit my 80 pound mark on monday! I texted a close friend to let her know and she texted back that i'd lost the equivalent of her 12 year old daughter! Congrats!

Same thing happened to me last week. We had a luncheon with a pharmaceutical company we were starting up a new project with. Our administrative assistant ordered Italian food. A huge pan of Pasta loaded with alfredo garlic sauce, italian bread, brownies, and salad. I picked out the chicken from the pasta and had some salad. I was so sad though, they rarely order Italian and when it was my project assignment.........BAM pasta! You did great though, you avoided all the bad stuff :frown:

my poor co-workers are dealing with the fact that I may not agree with chili these days. The gas is Horrible! I usually get the burps or hiccups but today it's been gas. It must be the chili right? I share a room with two other ladies broken up into four cubicles, i'm so thankful the girls are understanding but I think I may need to keep some air freshner around.............so embarrasing!

I feel like i read this everyday too............

My brain is struggling to catch up. My initial weight loss has been rather quick. I'm nearly three months out and down 80 pounds. I look in the mirror and I know i'm smaller but I still see the bigger girl! My clothes are HUGE. I waited to go shopping and when I did was shocked my true size was now a 20 and not a 26/28. On Sunday, I was buying a dress for my wedding anniversary dinner date. I found myself grabbing 24's from the racks because it was almost like I didn't believe myself in size 20 clothing. I thought it had to be a fluke those other size 20 items fit me. I stood in the store contemplating which sizes to grab, I was so afraid to grab the smaller ones and what if they didn't fit! It's such a strange feeling. I tried on those 24's and I was floating in them. The 20 ended up working out just fine. I had a long talk with my nutritionist about this. She said take lots of pictures, it's definately helped me visualize that it's actually happening! I remain hopeful that my brain will somewhat catch up with my body eventually, until then..........i'm keeping that digital camera stocked with batteries!