shues138

I promised myself when I lost 50 pounds I would post a success story, I still have a ways to go, but that was my rewards for a 50 lbs weight loss. Hopefully I can inspire you and if you need a buddy, I'll try to help! I was banded in January of 2007 at 322 lbs. The first six months I was the model lap-band patient. Once I started a new job and new life, I basically blew off the whole process and I had a book of excuses. I'm looking back now and I was sooo not emotionally prepared for this (I was banded at 26 years old). Eventually I got into a very abusive relationship, the only thing he "loved" was my cooking, so I just kept gaining weight. I stopped weighing myself when I saw that I was up to 280 (my lowest per the md was 268) Finally in December 2010 he left and in January 2011 I met the dbf that I have today (who I love to death). I finally realized that I met someone that I wanted to get healthy for so we could have a long future together. In August of 2011 I was presented to the emergency room with a massive gall bladder attack. In September, I had it removed, at the time I was 288 lbs. After the removal it felt like I could eat anything and eat I did! One day after complaining to my mother about how my pants don't fit, she says to me "you work at a hospital there has to be a scale somewhere" so I go down the hall and weigh myself....314 pounds!!!! I was so disgusted with myself that when I went home I threw out all the junk and bought tons of healthy food (chobani was my drug of choice for a while!). I went back to the md for a fill, they had me do an endoscopy to see if there was erosion (thank god there wasn't) and basically I have started all over again. Since December 2, 2011 to today I have officially lost 53 pounds. I can't believe it, I'm still in shock. I have a long way to go, but I literally take it day by day. Also my doctor suggested I go on Adipex which is a prescription appetite supressant. I really don't notice a difference from before I was taking it, for all I know the pharmacist is putting tylenol in the prescription bottle. Some people will get on me about this bit of information, but it's my choice and I'm following doctor's orders. Food wise, I eat less than 1000 calories a day. I eat three meals a day and don't snack. I drink tons of Water....tons lol. Honestly I only keep track of my calories 4 days out of the week. Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays I don't write down what I eat, but I make sure to pick healthy options and not to over do it. Once and a while I do have something extra, but it doesn't taste the same anymore lol Excercise wise I walk 2 miles a day or 40 minutes back and forth from my job to the train station. For anyone out there that is a long term bandster, don't give up. Heck, even go get a complete unfill and start all over. That was the deal between the doctor's office and me. Try it all over again and if I don't get down to my goal weight (220) they will start submitting the authorization for a revision. Today was the first doctor's appointment where I didn't get a fill because they were impressed with my weight loss. I never thought that would happen. I really never thought I would lose weight. I guess I've "grown up" and realized that this band isn't going to do all the work for me, that I have to do most of it. I also realized I'm not doing this for vanity purposes....I want to be a healthy wife and mother, and I want to grow old with the dbf I have now (I think he's the one lol). I will try to post pictures soon. I don't have any current pictures of me now, but I'll be going on vacation to Mexico with the dbf and will have pictures from that. Anyone who is reading this, keep up the good work, you're an awesome person, and take it one day at a time!

You know how I got off the soda wagon? I used to be ADDICTED to diet mountain dew and the md said it was fine to drink as long as it was flat. So I would pour a can out in a glass before bed so it would be flat the next morning....it was the most disgusting thing ever! Def broke that habit. If anything when I go out to dinner with the bf and he orders a coke I'll have a sip of it kind of roll it around in my mouth so it gets most of the bubbles out and drink that, but I don't order a whole coke usually water or iced tea.

Ugh that sucks! I have to say I'm one of those people who don't get cramps only occasionally, but to have that on top of a heavy period ::hugs::

I had the same thing happen to me, granted I am no where near my goal weight, but when I was overweight my periods were regular and normal. About a year ago I went on Seasonique and the first month was fine, no TOM, the second month it was a constant period with really big clots. All in all it was great birth control bc I never had sexy time lol. Finally this year I got sick of it because it was just a constant period so I called my GYN she told me to stop taking them and is going to give me the Mirena IUD since it's supp to help lighten your period. There is also a regular copper IUD with no hormones that you may want to look into as well. I will probably never take an oral birth control again, I went off it over a week ago, weighed myself and lost 5.1 lbs in a week! Hopefully when I get the Mirena it would slow down my weight loss ::fingers crossed::

Yeah you gotta break the diet coke habit! I stopped buying it all together, I only have Crystal Lite, bottled Water or Powerade Zero in my house. Also in regards to the excercise start off slow, and work your way up to an hour. For example, when I started working out again Mondays I would do 30 minutes, Tuesdays 40 minutes, Wednesdays 45 minutes, Thursdays 50 minutes and Fridays 60 minutes. Honestly I have totally fallen off the wagon in regards to excercise but I do walk at least two miles a day to and from my job and the train station which is a total of 40 minutes a day, but if I hit a plateau, I'm def going to the gym as well. Good luck with everything and keep up the good work!

I usually order what I would usually do but try to stay away from the carbs. I still drink alcohol, and when I'm out to dinner, I'll drink it up until the point where we're eating, then I'll stop. The other day we went out for Mexican, I had shrimp and crab enchiladas which sucked! Anyway, they were basically grilled shrimp and canned crab with some sauce on top of two cheese enchiladas. So I just had the seafood, left the enchiladas alone, had some grilled veggies and that was it. There was Beans and rice as well, but I gave that to the dbf. Today at lunch I ordered an arepa from the food cart outside of my office. An arepa is like a Mexican corn cake that they top with grilled veggies, meat (I chose shrimp) guac and pico de gallo. They serve it with a side of rice. All I ate was the arepa and that was it, threw the rice out. Once and a while I'll order just an appetizer, but a lot of them are either deep fried or dips which I kind of consider a "slider food" Hope I helped!

Trust me it wasn't easy! I was doing excellent my first 6 months post op, then it just went downhill I didn't see my md for fills until about 2009, then I stopped going again. I had my gall bladder removed last year, and after my GB was out, I could eat like I had no lap band! The dr thought it may have been an erosion so I had an endoscopy, everything was fine . I'm an old timer with a 4 cc band. The funny thing is, I think the most I had was 2 ccs in it, and I would get certain foods stuck. Now I have 3.25 and I don't get stuck, but I'm satisfied off of small portions for 4 + hours at a time. I live alone (well except for my cat) and I'll be honest with you since I don't have to cook for a spouse or a family, I've been buying lean cuisines and eating those, they're small portions and I'm completely satisfied. Now, they are a little high in sodium, but I drink over 64 ounces of water a day and I walk two miles a day (to and from my job and the train station). Also, and I know a lot of people are going to get on me about this, the APRN where I get my fills prescribed me Adipex. It works, I lost 7 lbs in two weeks, but I'm not going to take it forever, and she agrees. She wants me to get to a certain weight and fill level and start weaning me off of it. Now that I've been taking it for two weeks, the side effects aren't that bad. I don't suggest everyone does this, but I think my APRN knows I can be a success and wants to give me a little boost. Honestly though, I could've done it without the pills lol.

Good luck with everything! I was banded in 2007 and recently "started over" so far since December I've lost 40 lbs, and I feel great! I'm officially less than 100 lbs from my goal, it can be done I promise!

I can't believe they would prescribe me this, I swear on my mother's life I didn't ask for it, you should've seen the look on my face when she handed me the prescription, seriously???? WTH??? Oh well, I'm going to lose weight my own way, if she keeps pushing these pills I'm going to have to go somewhere else....it's ridiculous.

Thank you so much for the input. I'm glad I'm not the only one confused about this lol. I'm definetly going to give them my two cents at the next appointment. I never wanted to lose weight agressively and we all agreed (myself and the mds office) that the overall goal would that the band would help maintain weight loss. Ugh, this is just not a good day!

Went in for my fill yesterday, was down 6lbs since my last fill on February 27th. I was feeling good about that until the APRN who does the fills comes in, she decides that she wants me to lose more weight and put me on Adipex. She gives me a fill and tells me to come back in two weeks to follow up from the Adipex. I was very on the fence about this, I could've taken Adipex years ago, I didn't want to. Does this MDs office have some sort of weight quota they have to meet per year??? If I wanted to lose weight fast I would've had the bypass. Anyway, being the good patient I am, I took the Adipex at 7am this morning. By 8am, I am bouncing off the walls. I just finished 1 cup of soup, and that's all I've eaten today. Right now I'm sweating like crazy, this is not good! I'm going to keep taking it until my follow up appointment in two weeks. I promised myself if I lose 10 lbs in the two weeks I'll keep taking it, if not, then I'm going to tell them that I'm not taking it anymore and I've been losing weight at a good pace (IMHO) Ugh story of my life!

Forgot to check in final weight of 282 not bad not great either

Thanks for the advice I got the prescription which was not covered by my insurance ::rolls eyes:: I'm going to give it the college try for two weeks and if I feel like crap I'm going to stop. My overall health is way more important than the aprn seeing a fast weight loss.....if I wanted to lose weight fast I would've had a different surgery. Keep your fingers crossed for me

I went in for my fill today lost 6 lbs from my last visit a month ago which I thought was fine. The aprn who does the fills comes in and says she wants me to lose faster and gave me a prescription for adipex I'm just a little confused I paid to have this surgery so I don't have to do things like this but here I am at cvs waiting for my prescription I have to go back to the Dr in two weeks for a follow up she also gave me a fill too. Did this happen to anyone else out there????

Well I'm safely back at work after an amazing week in Key West. The weather was beautiful it literally rained 5 minutes one day and was sunny for the rest of the week. I did okay food wise, not a lot of snacking but a lot of big meals (and two slices of Key Lime Pie!). Let's see, highlights of the week. The flight down was smooth, no problem at all, had a looong layover in Fort Lauderdale, it was boring! They had a Chili's with a very limited menu and I hate Chili's but I was starving, so I had some sliders which were gross. Wednesday my mom and I drove up to Grassy Key to go to the Dolphin Research Center she really enjoyed it, it was a belated birthday gift for her so I treated her to that, breakfast and lunch. I have a new found love of mahi mahi and had a blackened mahi mahi sandwich at this restaurant in Key West, we loved it so much we brought my dad back for a last meal together on Friday night. Thursday my dad and I chartered a boat and did some light tackle fishing out in the Gulf of Mexico. Light tackle fishing turned into deep sea fishing at some point, I'm not sure....anyway, after the boat captain casts out my line, I get a bite, and I start reeling, and reeling, and reeling, finally after a half hour and a couple of breaks, I reel in a 60lb Amberjack. My dad has pictures I'm dying to show the world, I was so proud of myself! The captain asked if I wanted to get it taxidermed (is that the word?) my dad started laughing knowing how much of an animal lover I am, I go "throw him back, I don't want him on my wall, he needs to live a long life!" meanwhile, my dad catches a 30 lb Amberjack that they throw in the cooler for dinner that night, I didn't find this out until we got back on the dock and the captain is gutting the fish....but it was good Saturday I came home, I was so tired I had a late dinner of a steak and cheese sub at like 10:30 at night with the dbf. Sunday, he cooked eggs, sausage and toast, and we had general tso's shrimp for lunch. I am feeling the regret from this since I'm going in for a fill at 1pm, I know I lost something this month, I don't feel like I gained, my clothes fit fine but the scale will tell! If anything, I'll just get a lecture (actually I think they put in my chart I was coming back from vacation lol), a fill and get back on track again. I worked out one day on vacation, and I'm counting Thursday as a work out day because my left arm is still sore! Re-doing week three of c25k since I've been doing such a GREAT ::rolls eyes:: job at it! Actually Monday on vacation I re did week three and I was doing okay, not great, but not dying either, so we'll see how it goes. Food wise this week---forget about cooking, after my fill, I'm going to pick up my cat from the kitty bed and breakfast and it's off to stop and shop since Smart Ones are 2 bucks each this week. There's my cooking for you lol. Sodium city, but I'm drinking a ton of water lately. Well I guess that's all in my universe, once I get some pictures from vacation I will post them asap.

Just wanted to report I just went through a full body scan at Newark airport without a problem......I know there were some concerns with other bandsters but it was fine!!! Have a great day!

Another 2 lbs down to 283 I have officially lost 31 lbs since December 14th 2011!

So enough crying and whining yesterday--today was a new day and I think I did alright! I had some scrambed eggs, a hash brown and also got some pink grapefruit that I couldn't eat. I think tomorrow I'll cut out the hash brown, it was a little gross. Had my kashi cereal for lunch and I just discovered these AWESOME chips that if I can find them in single serving size at the grocery store I'm going to pick up, because 75 cents a pop at the vending machine is a little expensive. They are from Herr's and they are "popped chips" they are good, but I could probably have way more than one! Last night my friend and I went to a "total conditioning" class. I did alright, kept up with the instructor and did my first pushup EVER! I was so proud of myself! I did more than one pushup obviously but I was just in shock with myself! The part I couldn't do were the "planks" those are tough, but I'm going to keep up with it, and try to do it. I have to call tomorrow to pay for the rest of the classes I'm kind of sad that I'm going to miss the class next week. Also the girl I went with I convinced her to go to Zumba with me on Thursday nights after I get back from vacation. So, with everything being said and done, that's 5 nights a week of excercise! Tonight I'm going to go to the track and re-start week 4 of c25k since I missed Monday due to the migraine. Thursday I'll do another c25k train and then Saturday when I get down to Florida. The dbf is going to come over tonight to hang out and relax since we won't be doing much of that Friday! Have a good day everyone!

So my whole thing this week was I was going to go on a liquid diet before vacation to kind of balance out all the potential crap I'm going to eat next week. Well, yesterday was WONDERFUL! Not! Two protein shakes and a fight with the dbf gave me the worse migraine I had since before my surgery! I was so nauseous I wanted to throw up but I couldn't, ugh. So I took two advil and closed the blinds in my family room. Okay so two protein shakes, a handful of pretzels because I thought it was my blood sugar that was off, then a packet of cream cheese at Dunkin' Donuts because I thought it was STILL my blood sugar! I get home and eat a whole bag of......wait for it......steamed broccoli with pesto (bad!) and mayo (worse!!!!) but I did feel somewhat better. I was pissed too because I didn't get to excercise. So there's kicks in the @$$ parts 1, 2 and 3! I feel like I'm failing, I've been doing so good 30 lbs in 3 months is nothing to sneeze at! But now I feel like I'm sabotaging myself! I hate it! Today started off fine, I had my usual egg white omlette with veggies and cheese lunch was a disaster. I had half of a tuna sandwich with some steak fries. I feel so bad eating those, I suck at this! Stop the sabotage!!!!! At least I know that for dinner I made something healthy and I'm going to a new excercise class tonight with my friend from high school. This class is free for me (tonight) I need to see if I can make it from the train station. If I like it I'll sign up for it. If I don't I think I'm going to sign up at a studio that has Zumba classes 7 days a week and go on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Tomorrow I'm re-doing the week of c25k that I did last week since I missed a run Monday I probably lost a lot of endurance. Okay, so I f***** up today. Now a game plan for tomorrow. Breakfast: egg white omlette NO CHEESE! While I'm there, I'll get my lunch. They have Kashi cereal and milk. I'll have that for lunch and not even have a chance to meet up with the fries again tomorrow. Lunch: Kashi high protein cereal with skim milk. Dinner: Quorn cutlets with pesto and mozzarella. C25k after work. Don't give up!!!! I don't even want to think about getting on the scales Thursday. If I gained I'll do a liquid diet Thursday and Friday just to get some weight off. I think I would've been okay if I didn't have the migraine from hell. It's such an excuse, but every time I get a fill I'm on a liquid diet and I'm fine no headaches or anything! I need all the support I can get today! Buuuuuttt on a nsv kind of note, I was quite proud of myself at the grocery store on Sunday. I was going to get the ingredients for my dinner this week and I wanted something to snack on since I was stressed. I'm not going to lie I grabbed tortilla chips, had a couple of handfuls with salsa and cheese and threw the rest out. Before this, I would've gotten cookies, ice cream, salty crunchy crap, but none of that interested me (I didn't even go into the Easter aisle damn Cadbury eggs!). Also, I packed some healthy snacks in my luggage for my lay over Saturday. I packed a tuna salad to go kit (it's 200 calories) I'm also going to get some Ritz snackerfuls or whatever they're called and some rice crackers. Maybe some candy idk I'm going to see how I do food wise this week. I'm just hoping my next fill is going to get me into the "green zone" I feel like I'm close. The band is definetly still there!

The luck of the Irish was definetly not on my side this weekend! Sorry I didn't blog on Friday, nothing really exciting going on lol. This weekend food wise was uneventful ate like crap like always, then regret it later, then realize that it wasn't that much food. Going on a liquid diet today until friday to amp up the weight loss. Having a protein shake for breakfast and lunch and a low-cal/high protein dinner. I'm eating/drinking 530 calories a day. Starting another week (I've lost count at what week I'm on) on c25k, spent all of last week outside doing it, the weather has been so nice. Tuesday I'm trying out a class with a friend of mine it's cardio and hand weights, I have to see if I can make it from the train station to the class by 5:50 or so (the class starts at 6). Thursday I might "drop in" on a Zumba class see if I like the instructor, so I'll be officially working out 5 days a week starting in April! But I'll enjoy it because I enjoyed being outside all week last week. I actually enjoy being active! I guess that's all, Mondays still suck even though it's my last week before vacation here at work! Have a great day!

I work out with my Android phone and downloaded the iheart radio app I listen to the spin cycle station its basically club beats and some old school 90's dance mixed in. I love it!!!!

I agree with the op I started all over again and have lost 30 lbs in 3 months! Good luck!

Get the plain Greek yogurt and add sugar free pudding mix.....yum! White chocolate is my favorite!

Every hospital/surgical facility is different and if this is something that you're anxious about (and trust me you're not the first one) talk to someone at your pretest appointment because they work directly with the hospitals OR but to be honest I work in the financial end of a hospital and even I've seen it all! Funny story though I had my gb out last year and they gave me xanax to take an hour before (i would suggest inquiring about this too) anyway I didn't think I needed it this time but I'm like hey why the hell not? Well I was so loopy that when I changed I decided I was going to go commando lol the OR at my job let's you wear underware no bra though. Well I was feeling so good and the OR gown they gave me didn't even close in the back it was what I wore during my surgery that as I'm walking down the hall to the operating room my butt is hanging out for the world to see and I work there! And you know what?? No one has ever mentioned it since lol. Hang in there you'll be fine and the surgery will be over before you know it!

Three funny things happened last night after work: 1) I realized how tense I was when I'm running, so I just said to myself "relax stupid" and the tension from me grinding my teeth all the way down to my feet just kind of untensed and I had no headache yesterday yay! 2) I made General Tso's tofu. IDK I'm just not really interested in food anymore. Had three bites, threw the rest out even spit out what I was chewing and ate steamed broccoli instead (my crack). Also my mom gave me a subscription to Food Network magazine, I leafed through it found 0 recipes that I would make and threw out the magazine. Usually I would try to find something. Nope not this time lol. 3) I think I may have eaten a little too much broccoli bc I got that "stuck" feeling so I danced around the house listening to my iPod and it helped move the food down lol. So I got a little more excercise yesterday, my cat must think I'm crazy. Also I sing out loud while I'm running and I don't care who hears me lol. I'd like to share what is on my c25k playlist, reminder: I'm a white girl from the suburbs so just digest that as you read. Let me know what's on your playlist: Talk That Talk-Rihanna Telephone-Lady Gaga The World Is Mine-David Guetta Touchin on My-3OH!3 Til the World Ends-Britney Spears Turn Up The Music-Chris Brown Welcome To The Jungle-Guns N Roses Where Them Girls At-David Guetta Who's That Chick-David Guetta You Could Be Mine-GNR You Make Me Feel-Cobra Starship All of The Lights-Kanye @$$ Back Home-Gym Class Heroes Beautiful People-Chris Brown Becky-Plies Better With the Lights Off-New Boyz Black and Yellow-Wiz Khalifa Blackout-Breathe Carolina Bottoms Up-Trey Songz Turn It Up-Busta Rhymes Look At Me Now-Chris Brown Click, Flash-Ciara Countdown-Beyonce Break My Fall-DJ Tiesto feat BT E.T.-Katy Perry Hell On Heels-Pistol Annies Holliwood-Madonna I Don't Care-Fallout Boy International Love-Pitbull Judas-Lady Gaga Love Game-Lady Gaga Love Can Kill You-BT Marry The Night-Lady Gaga Mrs. Right-Mindless Behavior Super Thug-Nore Hot Tottie-Jay Z & Usher Paris-Kanye & Jay Z Ocean Avenue-Yellowcard Otis-Kanye & Jay Z S&M-Rihanna Somnambulist-BT Suddenly-BT Can't Get Enough-J Cole Wild One-Flo Rida Things that happened to me today: I lost 2lbs, so officially in three months I have lost 29 lbs! I wore two different sneakers to work today lol.