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Proud of myself and enjoying life



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I thought I would post this as a boost (hopefully) for people just starting their journey.

Firstly let me say that I LOVE MY LAPBAND!!!!! lol

I have been at my goal weight for over a year now and have kept on losing without really thinking about it, the lessons that I learned whilst trying to lose the weight have stayed with me and my life is so much simpler now! I started out at a US 14/16 and I am now a US 2/4.

In the first three months I lost about 40lbs and then it has just been a slow steady decrease, I hit my goal about a year ago and I am now over 20lbs under it. You have to have faith in your band and work with it not against it. There will be times when it is easier to shovel down something sloppy rather than take the time to cut up the good food and chew it well, but dont fall into the trap! Even when you think that 3lb a month is a pathetically slow weight loss, add that up over a year and it is easy to see how with time you will pass your goal.

I had a very complicated relationship with food prior to my band, it fell into the love/hate category, as in looooooved it most of the time, had to declare war on it if I ever wanted to diet! I still love food, I still enjoy all of my meals, I just dont obssess about it anymore. I no longer gorge just because it tastes nice, but I have learned that a little bit of what you like will not harm you, instead of the entire bowl of trifle I have a few spoonfulls and I am very satisfied with it. I never deny myself anything, I just only have a tiny portion, once I stopped that feeling of denial ( I am soooo a ' wants what I cant have' person) my life simplified. Now I know that I can have anything that I want, I'm not actually that bothered about having it!

I have discovered a love of excercise, I work out 3/5 times a week and love kicking my a** in the gym, I look and feel 10 years younger and have so much more energy and confidence. I lift weights and I am now enjoying watching my body change shape, in fact food wise I have to make sure that I eat enough as my DH has announced that I am too skinny!

I cannot remember the last time I felt GUILTY about eating something, and I cannot tell you how refreshing that is after years of beating myself up.

I treated myself to a Tummy Tuck ( dont listen to people that tell you that exercise will get rid of it, loose skin is loose skin and after 6 kids I felt that I had earned it) and I am going to have a BA this year as unfortunatly the girls have suffered as a result of the fat loss and ironically the weighlifting! People may call it vainty, I call it a reward for all my hard work.

In fact my DH has been so amazed by the change in me that he is going to have his gastric band fitted next friday! He reckons after watching me make all the mistakes that I made in the early days he will be going into it ahead of the game, I hope so, and I hope that he ends up as happy at the end of his journey as I am at the end of mine.

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    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
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    • Doughgurl

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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