Hi guys. Happy New Year to all! We saw the nutritionist today, and she's a love - very well informed, very pleasant - and the diet restrictions are much less severe than I'd heard and read about. However, the saga about projected/predicted weight loss continues. You'll recall that the staff psychologist told me that I could only expect to lose 30 pounds, from 204 to 174 because that's what the surgeon noted in my chart but never discussed it with me, and I hit the roof. Then I found out by calling the nurse the next day that that was not a maximum expected weight loss but an average weight loss, which was encouraging. Today the nutritionist gave me more accurate and even more encouraging information. She told me that the normal weight for my height (5'2") was 136 (still too high, I think), so my ideal weight loss would be 70 pounds (up to 206 today). Then the formula for average weight loss at 18 months is 60% of ideal weight loss, which is 42 pounds, so I could expect to get down to 164. That's still pretty fat for me (it would be a size 16), so I see no reason why I can't get down to 135, which would be a size 14. I'd prefer a size 10-12, but I'll settle for getting down from a 22 to a 14!

I suggested to her that everyone in the office get their act together and provide consistent information. Another example: the nutritionist said that we should cut our food to the size of a penny, and she was very surprised to hear that the psychologist told us it should be the size of a pencil eraser, which is ridiculous. I don't like the psychologist at all, and my own psychologist thought some of the things she said and did were very strange, like wearing scrubs, as if she need to in order to be taken seriously. I think she's very insecure, felt intimidated by my own set of degrees, and had to try and prove she was smarter than me (she's not). And she runs the support groups. Fortunately, so does the nutritionist, so at least I can trust someone there.

Anyway, we'll get the call tomorrow to schedule the nurse's education class and surgeries this month. I still haven't got my head wrapped around the fact that I'm actually going to do this. To me, it's now something that I have to do whether I want to or not. Not "elective" surgery at all.

Bev

When I started my journey, I was told I would lose anywhere from one to three pounds a week. They told me that it would take three to five years to lose around fifty percent of excess body fat. Everyone is different. Some will lose faster than others. They can't really tell you how fast or slow you will lose. I started the whole process in December of 2010. I was banded in April of 2011 and I am down a total of 87 pounds. I have friends that had the surgery and are losing slower and or faster. It all depends on your eating and how much you excersize. Good luck to you on your journey!!

Whilst you should take small bites and many do seem to follow the pencil eraser thing I find that if the bite is too small it is more likely to cause me problems. If something is too small then it is hard to get your teeth into and it can slip down without being chewed and get stuck. If I take a normal size bite it is much easier to chew properly and less likely to slide past and get stuck.

I try to cut my foods into Dime size, that works for me. Because like elcee says, you can get your teeth into it, and chew. This way, you have more control of what your doing.

Just remember Digestion begins in the mouth, so it's up to you to do it right.

My doctor never gave a preferred size of bite. Regarding weight loss I was told you could loose half of your excess body weight. Remember depending on you age (which affect metabolism) you may never get back to what you weighed when you were 20. Even thin people don't weigh at 40 what they did at 20.

How much weight you lose and what size bites to take is highly variable and depends on your behavior. If you want to lose it all you can...seriously they are just guessing!

Definitely don't focus any more attention on the projected figures for what you will lose. If you are committed to your band and eventually make exercise part of your life, you will get to goal. My very best advice for you is not to waste time on the probabilities and statistics on loss (because they may just discourage you from getting to your goal) and to really focus on writing out a plan of what you are going to commit to do in order to make the band work for you.

I did this at the beginning of my surgery -- you can see my plan if you go to THIS LINK - and it really helped me to stay focused. I also made a list of the things I was looking forward to about being banded, thinner and healthier -- I can not even tell you how amazing it has felt to check all of those things off my list as each one became part of my reality (well, except for the one about not being a fat bride... but I'm working on that one)!

This process is only as good as your level of commitment. If you can commit to being proactive about your care (and your fill level), to making good food choices more often than not, and to making exercise part of your life, you will make it into the group of bandsters for whom this surgery really works. The statistics will be irrelevant, and there is no freaking way you will only lose 30 pounds!!

Best wishes,

Catherine