Hi!

I'm Julie and looking to change my life on April 2nd. Yep, that would be my surgery date.

I'm a single mother of sometimes adult children. Own a very small salon in central Phoenix and have never worked so hard to make so little Just kidding, life is what I make it and it's awesome! This growing up has been a process and I feel like I have control over everything in my life but my weight. I've struggled my whole life with eating and bouncing up and down on the scale. More often it's UP! I feel like I've done it all... weight watchers, HCG, calorie counting, Atkins, and even the cabbage diet. Ya I lose, but when I get back to normal eating (No, one cannot live on Cabbage Soup), the weight slowly comes back on and adds a few extra pounds for good measure.

So here I am! This is me, getting real with myself and sharing my journey.

Hope to connect with you soon,

j~

It's great to see that we are continuing to grow. Welcome to everyone. Gottobeme, you sound like my sisters. They do the same thing to me. Please feel free to ask questions. I look forward to sharing from a medical and personal standpoint.

I love this group

Ok guys i am not very good a sharring but i have been reading all your post and making some comments on others. Made up my mind it was time to share. Here goes and please forgive the spelling erorrs.

My name is Cheryl and i am 53, have been married for 34 years to my high school sweetheart and we have 2 grown children 29 and 23. I have been dietting all my life it seems but i guess its only been since junior high (i would love to be that weight again)

have done every program you can name over the years, weight watchers , diet drs, pluse every fad diet that came around. Oh i can lose the weight just never quit make my target befor i start putting it back on again. So very tired of working so hard to lose it to just turn around and put it back on pluse some.

I was a respiratory tech for 19 years in a hospital here in Broken Arrow. Oklahoma and had seen people that had gastic bypass and knew that wasnt for me. a coupel years ago at Thanksgiving my husbands cousins told me that they had had lap banding done and they loved it. so i went to a seminar. NO NOT READY i can do this on my own. So again i got determinded i can lose this weight with the help of a Diet Dr. and i did lose 20 -30 lbs then the next thin i new i was putting it back on. so went to a dirfrent dr that did the HGC and lost a few lbs and than again put it back on.

Then in Oct. i was doing a diebetic walk and the lap band center of Ok was there and talked with them an found out my bmi would qualify me for the surgery so sind up for another seminar and thats when this jurney began.

OK i know i am now rambling but i just want to say my fear is that i am a stress eatter and that the band wont really help me so i am hopeing and praying it is the TOOL that will make it finally work.

Thanks for this group and for listing to my rambles

Ok guys i am not very good a sharring but i have been reading all your post and making some comments on others. Made up my mind it was time to share.

OK i know i am now rambling but i just want to say my fear is that i am a stress eatter and that the band wont really help me so i am hopeing and praying it is the TOOL that will make it finally work.

Welcome to the group, Cheryl! Thank you for sharing your story.

I worry about the band working for me, too. However, I have decided that If something goes awry or if I am unable to do my part, it's technically just another failure in a long series of weight loss attempts. Nothing lost. Yet, research shows many individuals are successful with the band, and I am going to do everything humanly possible to try to be successful with it.

I had my pre-op meeting this morning at the hospital where I am having surgery, followed by a small group meeting this afternoon with my surgeon's nurse practitioner to go over the pre-op and post-op details. It is about a two-hour drive to the location where I will be having surgery and on the drive home, I agonized over whether I should even proceed with WLS. I wasn't ambivalent on the drive to the facility this morning. My mood was great and I was excited about crossing off two more requirements from my WLS to-do list.

After arriving home, I've concluded I am doubting whether I need WLS because I have been steadily losing weight since January. I have been working my hardest to lose so that I will be healthy for surgery. Therefore, I need to place my focus on why I am having this surgery: I hope to change my eating habits forever, and I believe the band will help me do that. I hope it turns out to be the tool you need, too!

Hi

I'm new to the site and was really happy to find this group.

I'm going to be starting my 2 week pre-surgery diet on Monday and my surgery date is 4/2. I can honestly say I'm excited and a little scared.

I'm glad to meet all of you and look forward to taking this journey with you guys

Hi

I'm new to the site and was really happy to find this group.

I'm going to be starting my 2 week pre-surgery diet on Monday and my surgery date is 4/2. I can honestly say I'm excited and a little scared.

I'm glad to meet all of you and look forward to taking this journey with you guys

Welcome to the group! I can identify with you concerning being both excited and scared, but soon our surgeries will be over and we'll hopefully then be able to leave the scared feelings behind and place our main focus on the positive aspects of our bands.

Hi

I'm new to the site and was really happy to find this group.

I'm going to be starting my 2 week pre-surgery diet on Monday and my surgery date is 4/2. I can honestly say I'm excited and a little scared.

I'm glad to meet all of you and look forward to taking this journey with you guys

Hey losin4me! I start my pre op on Monday as well and surgery on April 2 too!! I'm soooo nervous and excited! Where do u live?

Welcome to the group, Cheryl! Thank you for sharing your story.

I worry about the band working for me, too. However, I have decided that If something goes awry or if I am unable to do my part, it's technically just another failure in a long series of weight loss attempts. Nothing lost. Yet, research shows many individuals are successful with the band, and I am going to do everything humanly possible to try to be successful with it.

I had my pre-op meeting this morning at the hospital where I am having surgery, followed by a small group meeting this afternoon with my surgeon's nurse practitioner to go over the pre-op and post-op details. It is about a two-hour drive to the location where I will be having surgery and on the drive home, I agonized over whether I should even proceed with WLS. I wasn't ambivalent on the drive to the facility this morning. My mood was great and I was excited about crossing off two more requirements from my WLS to-do list.

After arriving home, I've concluded I am doubting whether I need WLS because I have been steadily losing weight since January. I have been working my hardest to lose so that I will be healthy for surgery. Therefore, I need to place my focus on why I am having this surgery: I hope to change my eating habits forever, and I believe the band will help me do that. I hope it turns out to be the tool you need, too!

ElizabethAnne - I know how you feel about doing well with weight loss prior to surgery. I have been working with my team since August and lost 60+ lbs so far but have been fighting the same 3 pound for about a month! I have had many people tell me ..."but you're doing so good on your own, why have surgery?". For me diets usually work for about 6 months then I start back into my old bad eating habits. I know the band is only a tool but I am hoping it is the tool that will help me make the lifelong change in habits that I need to be a healthy weight. I'm still scared and know as the next four weeks go by I will probably doubt and double guess myself multiple times but I also know my track record without the band is not good.

I'm getitng the band to get it off and KEEP IT OFF! Plus, I'm looking forward the the second half of my life not struggling with the yoyo of my weight loss.

Welcome Welcome Welcome

I start the 2 wk diet on Monday too. Surgery date April 2 and so happy I have so many friends to share this journey with.

Hoot hoot ~ It's FRIDAY!

Welcome glg41! It's great to see our group is growing rapidly! I feel very fortunate to be among all you nurses. Good luck tomorrow with starting your liquid diet. I have been dieting since January 4, the day after I met with my surgeon. My required doctor appointments passed by quickly, but now that I am actually scheduled for surgery, it seems like the days are creeping by.

I am now on day 7 of the 14 day pre op diet. It has been difficult but not as bad as I feared. I did have a slip yesterday. I ate a slice of pizza. I felt so guilty afterwards. I was back on track immediately!! I don't want to ruin by chance at being banded next Tuesday.

Hey Y'all!

I'm Sarah. I had my surgery March 8th! So I am almost 2 weeks post- op and doing awesome! I'm 6'1'' and live in the Dallas, TX area! I enjoyed reading everyone's stories and seems everyone is super excited about their surgery! I hope you all are successful! I was scared and almost canceled the surgery the night before.. but my mother steered me in the right direction. Once I was in the car, on my way home, I looked at her and said "I can't believe I just did that! My whole life is about to change!" She is so proud of me. This surgery has made me look at food totally different already. I have noticed that a lot of y'all have your surgery scheduled for soon, and if you have any questions, I would love to help where I can! I really like this site.. and it's the most positive one I have seen yet! Good luck to you all and I hope to hear about how well all yalls surgeries go!! Congratulations on your life changing decisions!!

Hi Swadley, glad to have you aboard, So glad to hear that surgery went well. Most of us here are doing our pre-op diet and it is tuff. but you have already been through that so maybe you could give us a few pointers and what to do to hell make it a little easier.

Swadley! Welcome to the group. I can hear your accent in your writing. LOVE it.

Make sure you keep sharing your experiences with us!

julz~

You know, momab50, one big thing that helped me was I took a maxi-dress to leave the hospital in and it was so perfect! It would of hurt so much to lean over and try to put on some pants since I had just had the surgery. I was really happy with just slipping that over my head. I stayed in it for the next couple days while I was at home too.. I would just put on a nightgown while I was washing it lol. I'm not going to lie to you, the first 3-4 days after are gonna be the worst. I was on liquid hydrocodone and it just made me go to sleep. Make sure you get up and walk every hour, it helps with the gas pain they said. Though I luckily didn't have any! I'm so excited to go through this with y'all and hear your stories!!

Thank you Scorpio! I will tell y'all anything you want to hear!!

Welcome to the group, Sarah! Thanks for posting and for offering to share your experiences with us. I appreciate your encouraging words.