Hello. My name is Grace (hi Grace) and I have been overweight since I can remember. As a child, teenager, and even today at the ripe old age of 30

I have decided to take this lap band journey. I have been reading the forums and blogs for about a month and decided it was time to show my face, so to speak. I am at the beginning of the process. I found out today that since I was accepted into my insurances Bariatric Surgery Case Management Program and barring my failure to complete the paperwork or an unknown medical issue I should be approved. It is a process and most of it is the medical tests which is no surprise. The thing that I am worried about is the 5% weight I have to lose before surgery. 3% before I can even have the surgery scheduled. I am currently 312 lbs at 5' 7". This means that I need to lose 9 lbs before the paperwork is submitted and another 7lbs before surgery. Now obviously, as I'm sure you all know, weight loss is NOT my greatest skill. I have tried dieting since I was 14 years old with little results. I will turn to these forums to help me stay on track and focused on the goal. I know that having the lapband is not a magic device where the pounds will melt away. I know from reading and research that it truly is a took which I have to work hard with to get the results I'm looking for. So I will try to keep my eyes focuses, start to change my relationship with food now, the way I eat and what I eat. I accept the challenge and know that in the end the rewards are endless. The best reward is my health. I deserve to be healthy. My kids and husband deserve a healthy mother. I am worth this. In the past my issue was losing the momentum. I'm hoping that having this goal will help the motivation. Thank you for reading my LONG post, I tend to get wordy. I can't wait to take this journey and to have you guys by my side. I will also be here cheering you on!!

Hi Grace The 5% weight loss is an interesting requirement. There are so many crazy requirements; I don't get it. If we could all lose weight on our own, we wouldn't need the surgery!! I know, my surgeon put me on a 2 week liquid diet prior to the surgery. It was to shrink the liver, or whatever it is that sits in front of the stomach. Anyhow, in that 2 weeks time I lose 26 pounds. I was taking in 3 - 5 protein shakes a day. Now I don't really advocate going that hardcore because it was horrible and if you don't have to do this for pre-surgery, you are lucky! However, it will rip the weight off if you can't seem to get it off any other way. I don't consider Takins to be very healthy but it can take some intital weight off pretty quick. My husband is doing weight watchers and he loves it. He didn't join, he just went online and googled to find how many points he could have, and then just went and bought Smart Ones at the store. He's had great success with that and Smart Ones actually taste good so it's easy to stay on it. There are lots of coupons online for Smart Ones also so maybe this could be a good option! I hope this helps. You are on the right track with getting banded. Good Luck!!