So next month it will be three years and the first two and a half years were great steady weight loss down 100 pounds. Over the past 6mths I figured out how to eat around the band. As a result I'm up 25 pounds. I feel like I can't get back on the wagon because I know how to cheat.... Any advice

Thank you for this. I have been having a really rough time over these last 4 months. I had a friend pass away, a friend diagnosed with stage 3 cancer going thru chemo that is not working for her, and I lost my job all within months of each other. The weather where I live has been bad, so I stopped walking the 1 to 2 miles per day I was doing, and I turned to my comfort foods- cookies, icecream, etc.

I have been wallowing in a sea of self pity, and even with telling myself each and every morning that today is the day I get back on track, by evening I would be eating wrong again.

I have had the band in since Jan 9, 2010, and because of my gain, I am only 30 pounds down from when it was inserted. This is very very hard for me to deal with. During the end of the summer 2010, I had finally begun to play with my kids, going hiking, playing volleyball, etc, and I can't even tell you how GREAT that felt! I already feel the change that this weight gain has made in my ability to stay mobile and in my attitude toward exercise and moving!

I want to be able to parasail, to hike the Appalachian Trail, to move with my kids! Thank you for rocking my boat, and hopefully getting me back on track! God Bless.

Thanks for the props peeps - I gotta tell you I am VERY PASSIONATE about this whole getting healthy ..

IMHO our #1 problem is in our brains - not our stomachs... Our issues with food are very deep -

Food is our drug of choice.. We are food addicts... So just like a drug addict who's trying to stay sober - they aren't buying or keeping drugs on the kitchen table - the same thing goes for us - we can not surround ourselves with junk food..

I am no freaking diff than any of you - I LOVE FOOD - I MISS PIGGING OUT - I went the store yesterday - oh how I longed for choc chip Cookies - , nacho's - candy - potato chips (heck they did make it in the cart saying to myself - you can have a few - but I know that those few will turn into a whole bag in a day or two - so I took them back out cuz I know I was kidding myself) I long for sugar and fat most of the time - I look at my old fav foods with such longing - I miss my best friend a lot of the time.. But you know what - my best freind or who I thought was my best freind was killing me slowly and limiting the quality of my life.... So is it or was it really ever my best friend - cuz a friend wouldn't do that to you...

I have dealt with the death of my baby Brother - with my DS & Family having MAJOR PROBLEMS (carjacking - stabbing) - all since I was banded - But I did not turn to food, why cuz I know it really doesn't comfort you for long - only for those first few bites - then after than - the guilt comes - oh why am I so weak - why did I do that - now I have to un-do that

Well I don't want to un-do the damage... Yep I go to they gym 4 days a week - but I don't want to go 5 or 6 and it take 1 hr walking on a treadmill for burn 300 cal.. I don't like exercise that much - I am very aware of the calories I eat and how much work it take to burn them off - this is one of the reason I feel that everyone should be counting them - it's a learning tool - you need to know how many you are eating - other wise you are just like an ostriach with your head in the sand.. Ignoring them doesn't make them go away..

I am not a super woman - this is work - it's work every single day - but I am so worth it and so are all of you..

Now just pull up those bootstraps and move forward - You CAN ALL DO IT...

GREAT POST !!!!! I'm sure you have reached lots of us who needed to hear that!!!!!!

Thank You

#1 take out the diet mentality - I have not dieted since I started my journey 3.6 yrs ago... My goal was to get healthy - to get healthy you have to eat healthy and exercise and allow for treats too.. I am a FIRM believer in keeping a food diary - I asked a lady at work how she kept her weight down - she said when I have gained a few lbs - I start keeping a food diary writing everything down and keeping my calories around 1000- 1200.. She's one of those pple who we think - can eat whatever she wants and stay thin - Well there is no such person really - and we have to quit thinking that we can eat junk and quit exercising and stay thin or lose the weight...

This is about a LIFETIME LIFESTYLE change in our eating and exercise habits - If we want to lose the weight and maintain it we have to understand this.. We have the tool to help us.. So why are we going to screw that up..

I've maintained my weight loss for 2.5 yrs now - How you ask - Cuz I eat healthy 98% of the time allow for treats 2% of the time and continue to workout 4 days a week.. I know that I have to do this to maintain the weight loss - I know that my previous eating habits and lack of exercise is what got me fat in the 1st place - I feel to freaking good to go back there..

I can also tell you that almost every single night since 7/17/07 I have had dessert - SF puddings, sf ice cream, sf yogurt... I go on vacation and eat what I want but continue some type of exercise - but when I come home I go right back to eating healthy..

It was my Birthday last weekend - I had bday cake & ice cream Sat & Sunday - Monday morning it when in the trash !!! I looked at the cake a few time during the day on Sunday -(in the past I would have eaten it all day long) but said - you are going to have some tonite - if you eat it now - no treat tonite - I wanted to save it for the evening.

Peeps - you can do this - you just have to understand that you can't eat high fight - high sugar - high carb foods 24/7 365 - you can have them as treats - but on a daily basis you have to eat healthy and exercise.. As the saying goes you can't have your cake and eat it too..

You have to decide for yourselves - what feels better for you - being morbidly obese or thin and healthy - I hate the saying nothing taste as good as thin feels - cuz I love the taste of food - (fat & sugar) but I can tell you nothing feels better than being able to live your life with out your weight limiting what you can or can't do.. And I can still have that fat & sugar even now and then as long as I exercise and eat healthy the majority of the time..

I'm a 56 yr old grandma - who can now zip line - Para Sail - scuba dive - hike a mountain - walk all day long - leg press 400 lbs - I'm the grandma who can catch air - not the fat one sitting on the beach looking at everyone else have fun..

Use your tool - quit sabotaging yourselves - Love yourselves enough to do this for you - to improve the quality of your lives - Don't let that little devil tell you it's ok to eat the junk - cuz it's not - it's going to catch up w/you..

Sit down plan your meals - plan your treat - budget your calories to allow for sf dessert at nite and make sure you get your exercise..