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Went to meet with the Bariatric Coordinator on Wednesday to start the process. She thinks I’m a good candidate and has given me all the first steps I need to do Already have all kinds of appointments set up... psyc consult, nutritionist and physical theory (that one was new to me... apparently its to help people who have not been active get active safely... she admitted it was silly for me but I have to go anyways). Go back in a month to see how I’m doing and how much weight I have lost (Need to lose 11lbs before I can have surgery). I’m very excited, but of course I had a curveball thrown at me today... found out I’m officially 'pre-diabetic' (exactly what I wanted to avoid) and I have some insulin issue too... now the doc wants to play the game of weight gain because of above or above because of weight gain :scared2:. This should be fun but seeing I have been over weight my whole life, I think the band will be a great tool for me. Well, that was long but what can I say... I’m excited :w00t:

I have the chocolate flavor of Bariatric Advantage. So far, I have been putting a packet of splenda, a half of a banana and a little Peanut Butter. That has been great so far. Plan on picking up some syrups today.

I know I am posting this all over but I want to make sure everyone see's it in case it is somthing they have been looking for. Enjoy!

Hello, I am new to this site. I am 40 years old with a BMI of 39.6. I have been overweight for most of my life, with the exception of high school and a couple of years after I was married. Right before my wedding, I had dieted down to 130 pounds with the help of Phen Fen. I had my daughter when I was 30 and gained over 60 pounds that I was never able to lose. In fact, the weight kept creeping up after that, and I now weigh about 10 pounds more than I did when I was full-term pregnant. I have been trying for the past 10 years to lose the weight, but I can only lose a little bit at a time, then I gain it all back plus more. You all know how it goes. I have lost and gained the same six pounds for the past year or so. I can never make any long term progress. I got fed up and started considering a lap band, because I thought that was the only option besides a gastric by-pass, which I am not willing to do. When I called Bluegrass Bariatrics, they suggested that I consider the gastric plication. They said they had had a lot of success with it, and it was the cheapest option, which makes a difference for me because my health insurance won't cover a dime. I've read all the posts here, and I am both excited about the prospect of having the surgery, and terrified all at the same time. I want my life back, I want to be able to do all the things that I can't or won't due because of my weight. Part of me still thinks this is ridiculous, that I should just be able to knuckle down and diet and exercise and lose the weight without any surgical intervention. But I've read the statistics, that only about 3-5% will actually succeed with this approach. I went to a seminar this past weekend and met Dr. Oldham. I really liked him, and he's gotten good reviews on this site. I have my intake appointment on 2/15, and when all those results are back, I will have my surgeon consult. I am going through the process, with the knowledge that I can still back out if the fear gets to be too much for me to go through with it. I am terrified of severe pain and complications, although I have been through a c-section with a vertical incision. My husband is also very scared for me to do this, and people keep telling me that I'm not big enough that I should be considering surgery. Is what I'm feeling pretty normal? I would love to hear from some others who have been through this, and also folks who have had their surgeries wiht Bluegrass Bariatrics. I am looking forward to talking with you all, and I thank you in advance for sharing your experiences with me.

Hi! I'm sure everyone is different but I had my informational session July 2. After the session I received a large packet of information and forms. My bariatric clinic would not schedule a consultation until I filled out all of the papers in the packet and I also needed my PCP to fill out several documents and compose a letter of medical necessity. I left the session feeling very overwhelmed. It turned out to be just fine, I filled out all of my paperwork in about a day. It ended up taking my PCP 3 weeks :thumbup: to do her part. After I mailed the packet in, the bariatric clinic called me the very next day to schedule my psych eval and dietitian consult. So thats how it worked for me. It seems like everyone is just a little different. GOOD LUCK!

Hello everyone I found your forum researching the Lap-Band and although I have read quite a bit already, I feel I have much more to read before I ask any questions. So for now... I would just like to introduce myself, give you a little back round, and say I'm pleased to meet each of you and thrilled to find a place where I will have people who understand what I am facing as I go forward with Lap Band surgery. I'm a 38 year old wife and mother (to one 13 y/o daughter) who has been overweight my whole life and currently staring down the face of obesity. Last July, I found a painful lump in my breast and shortly there after was diagnosed with invasive Triple Negative Breast Cancer. After 3 surgeries I began a very aggressive chemo regimen then on to 35 rounds of radiation which I ended April 14th. During my chemo treatments, I discovered I also tested positive for cervical cancer (when it rains it pours) and scheduled the surgery to remove it in between chemotherapy. After 8 months of treatments and thanks to the graces of a merciful God... I can now say I am in remission and I am optimistic that remission will eventually turn into being fully cured. After facing cancer at the age of 37/38... I realized just what I had allowed my body to become and was determined to change it. I tried once before a few years ago to get the Lap Band surgery... but I found out the one Bariatric Dr. that my insurance covered (that was worth anything anyway) did not do the procedure. (He was only performing Vertical Banding at the time) I knew that if I was going to do something surgically... I did not want to do anything that would change my anatomy. So I shelved the idea. Recently I saw that he was in fact, now doing the Lap Band surgeries and scheduled an appt with my PCM for a referral which he gladly gave and that is where I am standing right now. I'm quite hopeful my surgery will be approved through my insurance. (Tricare) as I have met all the requirements they want in order to pay being 100 lbs overweight, having hypothyroidism, (recently diagnosed) fibromyalgia...not to mention my cancer history. Whatever lies ahead of me, I will face head on knowing whatever it is... is nothing compared to what I have already conquered. (Although, I'm actually looking forward to this! ) Right now I am just playing the waiting game and hoping this time... the second time will be the charm.

I would find another bariatric surgeon to follow through with you for the rest of your "journey". If you're not comfortable and they are not meeting your needs, then this isn't a good fit for you. I felt the same way about the weight loss being slow and feeling rushed into surgery. I actually took four months to kind of marinate in the whole idea before finishing up my prerequisites. The first six weeks were really tough, then I started seeing some changes. I've lost less weight than some friends, and more than others. I had to accept that everyone is different and will lose at different rates. I also had to get emotional support to start digging away at the psychological issues surrounding the food addiction. I regretted the surgery until about a week ago, now I think I did the right thing and its working, but its only been 9 weeks so maybe in a few more months I will be even more sure about my decisions. If you aren't willing to find another doctor, I would definitely have a discussion with the doctor you are seeing and his office manager. You deserve to be treated like a patient, not a number. Good luck, Liese

Good luck with Kaiser in San Diego. I went to their information seminar in May and decided to go with my other insurance. While I was at the seminar I learned that you had to have a bmi of 50 which clearly I didn't have and that you have to go through their weight loss program which takes about a year. Back in May they didn't have a contract signed yet with Pacific Bariatric since their surgeons didn't do lapband at that time. Best of luck to you and hopefully the process doesn't take as long.

Welcome and congrats on getting your date ! ! ! I'm not familiar with your location, but I found a couple of support groups for bariatric patients at the local hospitals that perform bariatric surgery. The meetings were open to any and all patients regardless of where their surgery was performed. Best wishes, and keep us updated on your progress.

I had surgery a couple weeks after you, and I noticed this week my hair loss has really sped up. I know its normal, but my hair was thin to begin with. I've been stuggling a lot with it. I dont want to try rogaine or nioxin because they are all dependent upon your continual use of them. However, I am making sure to really stay on top of my vitamins. I also added a sublingual folic acid. I'm also using the Vital Proteins Collegen Peptide powder that you can get at costco. My wife puts it in her coffee every morning. I usually just add it to a protein shake. It came at the recommendation of many friends, two of which also had the sleeve surgery. It helped them with the hair loss. One of them swears by taking the bariatric multivitamin one day and then a prenatal the next day. Dont forget to stay on top of your protein. If you dont, it will make your hair loss worse.

Della Street, When is your surgery? If you haven't had your psych eval, or nutrition consult, I really liked the psychologist, Dr. Olin, and the nutritionist Michelle Berman. They regularly work with bariatric patients.Dr. Olin is in Tempe, and Michelle is in Mesa.

Regarding the "sagging" skin.... The amount of excess skin after weight loss has to do with several things: 1. The amount of weight lost (greater than 100 pounds is considered "massive weight loss" by the bariatric community) 2. The time over which the weight is lost (from a physiologic standpoint, massive weight loss over the course of 1-2 years is considered "rapid".) 3. Your skin quality (In general, older skin that has been subjected to multiple weight fluctuations is most likely to "sag") 4. The type of bariatric procedure you have (this is related to the amount of weight lost and the speed of weight loss) So, yes, it is true that people who undergo gastric banding tend to have less "sagging" than compared to other bariatric procedures. This is likely due to a combination of slower weight loss, less overall weight loss, and a better nutritional state during the weight loss which leads to better skin quality. Good luck and congratulations on your first step in the weight loss process.

Here is the general gist of what my Doc wants - mind you all Dr.s are different. Here are my doc's recommendations on supplements: Multivitamin mineral supplement - bariatric specific or 200% dose of standard multivitamin. Should be 100% of at least 2/3 nutrients. Should contain at least 400 IU of Vitamin D, 400 mcg folic acid, 1.2 mg thiamine B-1, 15 mg zinc, and 18-27 mg. Iron. It should also contain copper and selenium. If you take 200%, it should not exceed 10,000IU Vitamin A, or 1,000 mg (1500IU) of vitamin E. Elemental Iron - ASMBS guidelines call for a minimum of 36 mg per day. For menstruating women or those at risk of anemia total intake should be 50-100 mg per day. B-50 complex daily - the B50's I take are Bariatric Advantage in capsule form and have 50 mg each of thiamine, riboflavin, and niacin and 400 mcg of folate, 250 mcg of B12, 500 mcg Biotin, and 50 mg of pantotheric acid. also contains choline 25 mg, inositol 25 mg. B-12 - 500 micrograms per day or 1,000 microgram injection monthly calcium citrate - 1,500 to 2,000 mg calcium citrate Vitamin D: Dose dependent on labs - since we are in Seattle I am still taking 10,000 IU's a day in liquid form. I am getting ready for my 6 month labs soon - I have dropped the D down to 5k, and am taking Celebrate multi-vitamin capsules instead of chewables 9they can make me want to yak if i take them all at once, so i space them out) and the Citrical petites - which are not really all that petite lol. I still take Omeprazole (prilosec) daily, it will help to keep you from forming ulcers post surgery.

I had a stomach virus this past week and immediately called my bariatric doctor. They told me that once I stop vomiting and can start eating again to just have warm liquids the first couple of days and then move to mushies for a couple of days. I'm not a doctor, but seems to me that if you have a stomach virus, it's best to get it out of your system and not just take meds to make you not throw up. I know the dangers of vomiting, but you can't go the rest of your life popping a pill to keep from throwing up, can you? I don't know, this, like almost everything else having to do with the band, is different among doctors.

I'm also in week 9 out of 16 for my weight management program. I have another nutrition class in October and a pre-op orientation class. I have a pre-op appointments with my surgeon and bariatric PCP in November. In addition to those two appointments I have more labs to get. So things are really coming along. I am still shocked that I even have a date. I have gone through the process twice already and was completely denied so I am still gonna be waiting for the actual approval to come through. Ugh my nerves are wrecked. Lol.

Well, about 6 weeks ago, my husband and I attended a seminar for Lap Band Solutions led by Dr. Scott Stowers. In the ensueing weeks I have found out that my insurance has an exclusion for bariatric surgery. My wonderful hubby told me that he would support what ever decision I made and would be there for me every step of the way. (I so love my hubby!) As a result, I am going to be a self-pay patient. I have my appointment with Dr. Stowers on Dec. 22nd. Hopefully my surgery will be in January. I am very excited.

Hey everyone, I just wanted to write a little update. I am so not a blog writing person, but I think writing helps me stay accountable and then I am able to go back and read what I wrote. Ok.. so for the stats. I am three weeks post op, I had my surgery on Jan26th (self pay). My starting weight a week before surgery was 220 and then my weight day of surgery was 211 (I think the first scale was a little heavy because I was not required to do a pre-op). And I weighed myself today (without clothes) and I was around 203. That’s only about a 7/8 pound lost from the day of surgery in 3 weeks. I am little disappointment but I know I have cheated a couple of times and I am not very strict about the protein and liquids. I know I need to get it together!! But I am glad that at least I am following my progress so that I can implement some changes and see results. I dont know if I told you all... but my short term goal is to lose a lot of weight by my 30th bday on June 30th. That leaves around 4 1/2 months to lose weight. I want to lose around 30 pounds. I would absolutely love to be 170 something by my 30th b-day. lol. You wont be able to tell me I am not cute. hahaha. OK so back to the stats. I've been on mushies for around 3 weeks. I was lucky in that my dr did not require 2 weeks of full liquids but instead wanted us to do mushies for week 2-4. I can do that. I went to the 2 week nutrition class last week and it was good. I told the nurse that I was only getting about 40 grams of protein a day and she warned that my hair may fall out if I dont get the 60-70. Ouch,, I dont want that. So while I have beefed it up.. I am not where I need to be. So starting today I am taking a renewed effort in getting my protein. I just cant seem to find any vitamins or calcium that taste good.. eeew, the chewables are soo nasty; they taste like chald. Am I the only one that misses eating. OMG.. I knew I was a emotional and mental eater but I never knew it was this bad. I just miss the social aspect of eating. Like now.. Im like well what’s the point of going to the mall or to eat if I cant eat anything good. I guess I am saving money...but I sure do miss eating. I have my first restaurant outing tonight with a girlfriend...hopefully that works. Because I haven’t told her about my surgery and I want to just act like normal. My mushi stage includes fish... so I think I will just get fish and mash potatoes or a veggie. That seems to work good for me. But eating with people..I notice that people eat so fast and just slurp their food up. My gosh... I never knew how much we as a people dont stop to really enjoy and taste our food. Speaking of not telling people.. I just told my BF about the surgery. Ouch. I was really nervous about it. He lives in a different state so I was able to hide it from him but since he was coming down for Valentines day I knew I had to say something. Surprisingly he reacted alot better than I expected. His main thing was that he wish I would have told him so that he could of been here to help me. I asked him would he have tried to talk me out of it..he said yes cause he doesn’t think I needed hte surgery. And I told him..see thats why I didnt tell him. He was really helpful while he was here.. He is a Chef..so he made me lots of soft food and even ate the same foods as me. It was nice. OK.. so I need to focus on a couple of things. I think I have gotten kinda complacent with the surgery already. I need to make sure I take all my vitamins, calcium citrate and water and protein. AND exercise (well I still can only walk until next week) and make better choices of food. Right now.. I am eating any soft thing that I can and not really paying attention to caloric or sugar or fat contents. And I am sure that is the reason for the lack of weight loss. So starting today I am going to get it together. I have my 4 week appointment next week and I want to record some weight loss. I also need to stop cheating . Right now the biggest cheat for me is candy. It my twisted little reasoning.. I was like hmm if I can have chewable vitamins then I can have something like sweet-tarts or smarties. And they go done just fine. Argh, I need to stop eating them. So.. like I said I go for my 4 week appointment next week and for some reason they are combining my 4 and 6 weeks appointments and will be giving me my fill then. I didn’t think anything of it initially but now that I think if it...it seems a little soon for a fill. The good thing is that I wont have the bandster hell that everyone talks about but then I wont really get to enjoy regular food. Because right before I hit the 4 week mark I will have the fill and have to back on liquids for a bit. Has this happen to anyone? Should I ask the dr for a fill later than 4 weeks. OK thats enough for now... I should write more frequently so I wont have as much to say. I think I am going to take progress pics tonight so see if I notice a difference. That should be fun. I know I have a NSV... I was able to button up a coat and not have has much pull as it used to have. it was great. now I don’t have to use a scarf to cover up the snug button. Have a good day everyone.

I'm 58 years of age, male, 340 lbs, 5'11.5" and semi-retired from teaching. I made the decision to have gastric bypass of some kind in 2014. During the fall of 2014 I made an appointment with my physician, actually I think it was my annual checkup! When discussing my health issues, i.e. pre-diabetic, sleep apnea, morbid obesity, osteoarthritis, and borderline high blood pressure I brought up the possibility of having gastric bypass. I was VERY nervous to ask about this as I figured he would treat me as a failure for not wanting to lose the weight the old fashioned way (which I had done 3 or 4 times since I was married 34 years ago). Shockingly, he was very positive about it! This started the process, he said there were surgeons in the metro area, I live in the Omaha/Council Bluffs metro, but on the Iowa side of the Missouri River. The bariatric surgeons were located in Omaha. So off I went, first I contacted a surgeon in Omaha who said I needed to do 6 months of nutrition counseling. I could do that through my general practitioner's office. During August and September 2014 I met with the nutritionist and was off on my journey, so I thought. Late September, my wife and I were stunned to find out she had advanced ovarian cancer, it was truly heartbreaking and awful for us, our daughters and other family and friends. She became quite ill very fast and we were so worried that she wasn't going to make it two months. My surgery plans, of course were put on HOLD. Anyway, through lots of prayers, great physicians and my wife's determination she licked the cancer and by January 2015 she had been through 3 rounds of chemo and surgery to remove the tumors. The pathology report came back with such good news about being in complete remission the surgeon called my wife personally to tell her, he was VERY excited that it went that well. My wife still had 3 more chemos in front of her, but finally on February 27, 2015 I restarted my process. Initially, I had begun the process through an Omaha bariatric unit, we quickly had found out in the fall at the same time my wife became ill that our insurance would not cover physicians in Nebraska. We were limited to Iowa. Because of the severity of the wife's illness she was able to get a waiver to get a specialist in Nebraska. My "illness" as such was not life threatening and they would not approve the surgeon in Omaha. I made my second shot at appointments with the University of Iowa in Iowa City, IA. This is a 3.5 hour drive from home but it was a major medical university and the original home of the "father of bariatric surgery". So I felt that this would work, even with the long drives on occasion. The first appointment went well, they sent me home with nutritional counseling, paperwork completed and a pre-surgical diet to follow. They told me to lose 35 lbs by May 22, 2015. I went home, two days later I had a eschemic colitis attack. Four days in the hospital, one partial colonoscopy, lots of bleeding etc. etc. etc. I had never had a problem with my colon before, let alone an attack. The diagnosis came back that the attack tends to be one and done. But could possibly happen again, more than likely it would not. Thank god. My biggest fear was that gastric bypass wouldn't be an option because of the colitis. Gratefully, the doctor's had no problem with me continuing. After a rocky start, I was back on track by the middle of March and the weight loss plan that the U of Iowa put me on was basically the soft diet that I would look forward to following surgery. I found their diet was very helpful and keep me from being very hungry. I think working on the 64 ounces of Water a day and the 3 cups of skim milk for Snacks was probably the key to my success during the pre-op period. I did start an exercise plan at that time which for me was 10,000 steps a day AND/OR 30 minutes on the treadmill. It took a few weeks to work up to 30 minutes as I started at 20 but within 3-4 weeks I was there. By late June, I had lost nearly 45 lbs! On or about June 27th I went in for my pre-op checkup and they were very pleased with my progress. All systems go! Surgery was now officially on July 1, 2015. Stopped at a BBQ place in Des Moines on the way home. I suppose this was a last supper sort of thing lol. My wife and I hit the road for Iowa City. Arriving the night before, as I didn't really want to get up at 4 a.m. to make it there for surgery at 7:30 a.m. Remarkably, surgery was very uneventful, took about 2.5 hours was in recovery for another couple of hours because my room was ready and then started walking around the hospital floor that evening. Pain was minimal, I have had some other abdominal surgeries so kind of knew what to expect after gallbladder surgery, hernia surgery, etc. This was my first laproscopic though. It looks like you have been shot with a machine gun as you have 5 holes in a circular pattern of sorts around your stomach. I had two drains. These stayed in for a week! I went home the next day, and the drive back was also very smooth. Kudos to my wife who is an excellent driver too :-). Way better than me....lol. I stayed home the rest of that week and the next Monday as that is when my post-op appointment was and another return trip for a 20 minute doctor appointment. (7 hours for 20 minutes, uggh). But I did get my drains removed, those are a pain in a couple of ways. First they dangle from your body, second you have to drain and measure the amount of Fluid that you are dispelling from your body for the doctor's information. Of course, my menu was full liquid at this point and for the most part that went pretty well. I couldn't get 64 ounces of water down very well, but usually 50 or so. Lots of blended, hmmm crap.

My lists are very simple, but come from a few different places. From Bariatric Eating Inspire Protein powder PURE unflavored protein Cancun chili seasoning mix From the grocery store: spinach lettuce garlic whatever other fresh veggies look good berries, or whatever fresh fruit looks good broccoli slaw mix--I eat a LOT of this Ken's Lite Asian sesame salad dressing cheeses--cheddar, cottage, Parmesan Greek yogurt (sometimes--it is a little slidey, so I don't have it as often as I did preop) almond milk ground chicken (for chili) turkey Italian sausage beans--fat-free refried, black Beans, kidney beans, cannelini beans, etc. from Market Day (ordered monthly from my son's school): shrimp tilapia-tortilla-crusted and plain scallops salmon cod rack of pork boneless pork chops chicken breasts portions--plain and teriyaki ground beef

I waited until after my first pre-op visit. I have Centrum flavor burst and they are delicious. I have to stop myself from munching on the whole bottle. My calcium citrate is from Bariatric Advantage and they're chocolate and carmel chews. Love them! My B12 is also one that dissolves under the tongue very quickly. I think they're cherry flavored. I need to check out the biotin and I may need the fish oil too soon. It took me trial and error to get here but I'm quite pleased with my regimen.

Jessica, welcome to LBT! I was a financed patient--bariatric procedures were excluded from my insurance policy. I went to my seminar on May 19th and had my pre-op testing on May 21st. On the 21st, I made the appointment to have surgery on June 18th. I could have done it on June 11, but I was out of town that week nmmama, you might want to consider posting a specific question as its own thread; you'll probably get more responses that way! My experience is all on my blog. Maybe looking around at blogs people have would help you out (look at signatures throughout LBT for links, as a lot of us are also bloggers :biggrin:.

Okay, so i finally got serious about this in August of 08... I had been completely out of control and had given up.... The only thing that was getting me up every morning, was the drive-thru - anything cheesey with a big ole' diet coke was all I needed for motivation to get up and go :smile2:! Lunch was whatever the school cafeteria was slopin' that day...the cafeteria lady really liked me so she gave me double portions or extra cookies-woohoo!!!:cursing: My afterschool snack was a couple to a few Little Debbies washed down with a - you guessed it - big ole' diet coke....:thumbup: Dinner was a scavenger hunt for the largest portion I could find - didn't really matter what it was, as long as it was alot of somethin'!:sad: I now know, (and am pretty sure I knew at the time) that I was trying to eat away some pretty negative feelings. What I was actually doing was eating myself to death... I had moved away from my home, my firends, my church family and completly severed my relationship with the Lord. Thankfully, He never left me:tt1:. This went on from about January till well, about August. I joined a gym in July, but my eating was still out of control.... In August, we started school and my job had changed.... I was again working with kids that I loved, but quickly discovered that I was not able to perform my job the way I wanted to.... I was sitting in the floor with a little boy, who was having a very difficult time and all these people were watching... Now, the audience has never bothered me before, my students' meltdowns often attracted attention. But this time I was humiliated because I couldn't get up out of the floor! And I don't mean "I couldn't get up gracefully", I mean I actually couldn't get up. Thankfully, I discovered the doorknob behind me and heeved myself up... I left work that day and went to see a trainer...:w00t: She was precious and got me started that day (I'm pretty sure she heard the desperation). Over the course of the year, I struggled with my eating, exercise, my purpose - and my relationship with the Lord. I came through with a renewed faith, 30 pounds lighter and a new shunt for my brain (long story). 30 pounds isn't alot at my size, but for the first time in my life - I hadn't gained:wink2:. And better yet, I was no longer angry...:thumbup: And although that 30 pounds is a great accomplishment, it isn't the end of what I need to do.... So here I am, 3 days into the preop for LapBand surgery... I wasn't sure this was the path for me, but left it in the Lord's hands (huge for me) and he opened doors that I never thought was possible...My sugery will be paid 100% by my insurance. I was given a surgery slot on a non-surgery day 14 days from now in a practice that is booked three months out....:tt2: This is one of the few things in my life that I have totally let go of and trusted Him with.... I did not beg, bargain or try to manipulate the situation...(again - huge for me) In fact, I had pretty much given up on the idea and decided to try diet pills (not a good idea) when I called my insurance company "for closure." Fast forward 3 days and here I am!!! I start back to work tomorrow, and still have to be approved to be off, but I am not worried.... I trust that it will all work out... Becasue I know who is in control....and it's not me:wub:.

Okay, so i finally got serious about this in August of 08... I had been completely out of control and had given up.... The only thing that was getting me up every morning, was the drive-thru - anything cheesey with a big ole' diet coke was all I needed for motivation to get up and go :tt2:! Lunch was whatever the school cafeteria was slopin' that day...the cafeteria lady really liked me so she gave me double portions or extra cookies-woohoo!!!:biggrin: My afterschool snack was a couple to a few Little Debbies washed down with a - you guessed it - big ole' diet coke....:thumbup: Dinner was a scavenger hunt for the largest portion I could find - didn't really matter what it was, as long as it was alot of somethin'!:eek: I now know, (and am pretty sure I knew at the time) that I was trying to eat away some pretty negative feelings. What I was actually doing was eating myself to death... I had moved away from my home, my firends, my church family and completly severed my relationship with the Lord. Thankfully, He never left me:tt1:. This went on from about January till well, about August. I joined a gym in July, but my eating was still out of control.... In August, we started school and my job had changed.... I was again working with kids that I loved, but quickly discovered that I was not able to perform my job the way I wanted to.... I was sitting in the floor with a little boy, who was having a very difficult time and all these people were watching... Now, the audience has never bothered me before, my students' meltdowns often attracted attention. But this time I was humiliated because I couldn't get up out of the floor! And I don't mean "I couldn't get up gracefully", I mean I actually couldn't get up. Thankfully, I discovered the doorknob behind me and heeved myself up... I left work that day and went to see a trainer...:w00t: She was precious and got me started that day (I'm pretty sure she heard the desperation). Over the course of the year, I struggled with my eating, exercise, my purpose - and my relationship with the Lord. I came through with a renewed faith, 30 pounds lighter and a new shunt for my brain (long story). 30 pounds isn't alot at my size, but for the first time in my life - I hadn't gained:wink2:. And better yet, I was no longer angry...:sad: And although that 30 pounds is a great accomplishment, it isn't the end of what I need to do.... So here I am, 3 days into the preop for LapBand surgery... I wasn't sure this was the path for me, but left it in the Lord's hands (huge for me) and he opened doors that I never thought was possible...My sugery will be paid 100% by my insurance. I was given a surgery slot on a non-surgery day 14 days from now in a practice that is booked three months out....:tt2: This is one of the few things in my life that I have totally let go of and trusted Him with.... I did not beg, bargain or try to manipulate the situation...(again - huge for me) In fact, I had pretty much given up on the idea and decided to try diet pills (not a good idea) when I called my insurance company "for closure." Fast forward 3 days and here I am!!! I start back to work tomorrow, and still have to be approved to be off, but I am not worried.... I trust that it will all work out... Becasue I know who is in control....and it's not me:wub:.

Many of them are Google ads. They pick up on things that you have searched for in the past in an attempt to target you. They also track your location. Right now I have ads for a New York bariatric group and Amazon Mom which is where I order diapers for my 2 year old.