My name is Lymarie, I am 27, wife and mother of 2, ( 7 and 2 months) I had my surgery March 31 2011, it's been a year since my surgery. I was 281 pre-op, 271 after liquid diet and at the time of the surgery. I got pregnant 3 months post op, at that point i had lost 15 lbs and weighed 256 the day i found out i was expecting. I've struggled with PCOS since I was 16 & have been obese my entire life. I don't remember being under 200 even as a pre teen. My most recent pregnancy was planned but since i have pcos we.weren't expecting for it to happen the first month of trying. I had a good uncomplicated pregnancy and only gained 10lb. Today I am back where I started, I weigh exactly 256 lbs, the same I weighed on July 18 2011 when i found out i was pregnant.

My band has been filled 3 times in a year. I'm not sure how much is in there or how big or small the band is.

Here's my problem;

I can't seem to get below 250 lbs no matter what I do. I do have to admit that after signing up on my fitness pal, I realize that my choices on foods are not the best. I have a terrible sweet tooth, I can say I eat emotionally and out of boredom. I get full with my meals, but for some reason I can't get myself to stop, especially if I don't feel satisfied, I'm embarrassed to say that sometimes I rather make myself throw up so i can keep eating what ever i was eating than just quit eating that particular food. I don't do this with all foods or at every meal but I do do it.

I feel like a failure. I feel like I've wasted my time and the time of every one who has helped me or supported me. I have no problem working out, I actually enjoy it, Zumba, yoga, pilates, spinning etc, i work out an average of 8-9 hours a week.

I want to be successful. I want to be happy, I want to be healthy, I want to be respected, noticed, I want to look in clothes how in my imagination I think I look in clothes, once I see myself and realize that I don't look as I imagined it's depressing. My marriage is depending on my weightloss, my happiness depends on my weightloss. My family depends on my I feel like i had the surgery, then that was it, I never had any.direction or a way to correct my actions.

I'm looking for any guidance or suggestions on how to get this going, please?

Hi everyone! I wanted to give y'all a quick update on my progress; since posting this a few weeks ago, I've applied some serious changes to my lifestyle. I no longer force myself to eat more than I can. I began going to a psychiatrist, there I was diagnosed with post partum depression (it all makes sense now) and put on an anti depressant, I will meet regularly with a therapist this way I can sort out the issues I've been having all along. I'm also exited to say that this morning I weighed myself, only to find out that I FINALLY made it out of the 250's. Today I weighed 245!! That is 11lbs! It may not seem like much, but I AM STOKED!!

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions and your encouragement. I wouldn't have found my encouragement and motivation had I never posted my story on here. I'm so close to my short term goal, I can almost taste it!!

You guys mean a bunch, thank you!!

Lymarie

Congratulations to you LyMarie!!!

Glad to hear your progress! Keep on that path and you'll have continued success!

Hi! I was banded and shortly afterwards had some family emergencies (terminal illnesses) that required me to move to another State and basically got in the way of me doing any of the follow up fills for two years. I dropped just 20# in that period, which most people would consider a failure of the surgery, but I did not, if only because my weight, which had been on a trajectory of a 10# gain each year, did not go up above the weight I was at the time of the surgery.

I, too, have PCOS, so I understand that challenge of losing weight when your hormones are making your body think its on steroids. I'm not a 'bad eater' per se, but portion control has been always been challenging for me. Once I got a couple of fills and got some restriction, I started losing more weight, but it still took 18 months to drop an additional 40#.

At the 40# post-op mark I found that moving my body got easier and I started walking more and eventually joined a health club, which accelerated my weightloss. 2 months after joining the club, I got pregnant, and once I realized I was pregnant I panicked over the possibility of gaining back the weight I'd worked to lose--I'd just gotten under the 300# mark and absolutely didn't want to cross it again.

I contacted a dietician to work out how to manage my weight so that the baby's nutritional needs were being met while keeping my pregnancy weight gain to a minimum. I upped my exercise and watched my portions and managed to keep my weight gain to 7#.

Because I stayed active during my pregnancy--which was difficult, I felt like I was walking through a pool full of Water most of the time--I actually lost weight. A few days after delivery I weighed at 16# less than I had when the pregnancy started.

I'm 3 weeks postpartum and I'm down a total of 27 pounds from 10 months ago. I am breastfeeding, and my exercise is limited to a mile walk a day plus normal household activity. I just had 1cc removed from my band (I had 2.5 cc filled) because I dropped 8# in 2 weeks and am worried about keeping up milk production with such rapid weightloss.

I'm not a perfect eater, but I've developed some coping mechanisms and strategies to help me stay on track. I've learned how to handle cravings, for example. I know when to re-direct and when to relent. I know when to stop indulging (most of the time) and I know when to get rid of something tasty because I can't resist the temptation to keep indulging.

Redirect: This strategy starts with a question: Am I really hungry, or am I bored/nervous/upset? If the answer is yes, I really am hungry, then I try to redirect focus from the death-by-chocolate cake I am craving to a Protein or granola bar or a piece of fresh fruit--ie, to something healthier that tastes good, too. If the answer is no, I'm not hungry, I'm bored/anxious/whatever, then I redirect to an activity that gets my mind and/or body off the comfort-food focus. Depending on the craving and the reason, I may meditate to calm myself, or take a 5-minute yoga break, or go for a walk, do some weeding/chores, take a bath, masturbate, or take a time-out to touch base with what is really going on inside me (ie administer some emotional first aid).

Relent: Relent, for me, comes after multiple attempts to redirect. If I've eaten my healthy mandarin and I've done my chores and I've finished writing an email or whatever other tasks I've put to myself to in order to get my mind off the craving and I still want that cake (especially if I've craved it for a few days), I'll go buy a single-serving cupcake or something, both as acceptance of the craving, and as reward for the work I've done to earn it. If I absolutely have to have a slice of that $20 death-by-chocolate cake and they don't sell it by the slice, I'll buy it at the bakery, ask them to slice me a piece, and then give the rest away to the people working there, or as samples for their customers. (Yes, it raises eyebrows, but no one has refused me yet.) Then I relish my $20 piece of cake, eating it slowly, savoring every bite. I don't bring home more than one serving of a craved food anymore. It's too easy to say to myself, "Oh, I'll bring this whole cake home and share it with my family" and then end up eating more than one serving because I don't want it to go to waste or because it is just that good.

I suppose I should have the self-discipline to be able to eat just one serving of something I crave and leave the rest alone for others or for another time, but I don't. And I am self-aware enough to accept that. I'm also self-loving enough to get over the whole self-sabotage / self-punishing thing for my supposed lack of will-power, no longer hating myself even as I am rewarding myself with a tasty treat. Today, I allow myself to eat that thing I really want, but just one small serving. And I give away or toss away the rest. I may feel a little foolish for eating what amounts to a $20 slice of cake -but- I figure that it's $18 worth of extra calories I'm not adding to my waistline, and given the work I have to do to take off just one pound, it's f-ing worth it.

So--this is how I've learned to deal with food cravings over the years, and how I managed not to gain weight during my pregnancy. I practice self-awareness and self-acceptance, a bit of self-discipline, and a lot of self-love. I'm as flawed, outrageous, and complex as the next person, and what works for me may not work for others. Still, it's worth sharing if even just one person benefits from it.

Multiple post in error, oops!

Darned multiple posting -- silly impatient me.