I am 26 years old and looking to lose 140 lbs. I have a wedding coming up in october and would like to lose as much as possible before then(realize it will be far less than full 140). My question is to those who have been doing this a) how often do you need to exercise and what is a typical meal that you eat? c) is 2.5 lbs a week with at least 3 days of exercising and eating right a realistic goal? I appreciate any information you can share. Getting banded on Jan 13th.

Losing 140 pounds in 10 months is far from unattainable but you'd have to start immediately and not wait until you get banded.

You don't have to go and starve yourself to do it either. Document everything you eat; try not to drink anything except water; drink at least 90 ounces of Water a day (about 5 half liter bottles); keep calorie intake between 1,500 and 2,000; take a stroll around the block once in a while and you'll lose 3 pounds a week.

Throw in 3 or 4 days of exercising for and hour and you can up that to 4-5 pounds a week.

If you have $200 to spare, check out the Bodybugg. It will tell you how many calories you are burning and you can log your meals on their site. They also have plenty of useful reference.

BODYBUGG :: WELCOME

I'd recommend exercising 5 days a week. Journal your food so you know what you've REALLY eaten. If you get in the habit of writing absolutely everything down, you'll walk away from things you might otherwise eat without thinking.

One thing that has helped me is when I'm at home (not so much when I go out because people look at me sort of funny), I cut all my food up before I start eating -- into bites about the size of a nickel. That way, i don't accidentally take a bite that is too big and have it get stuck.