Just checking in to see where everyone is and how they are doing.

I was scheduled for my first fill on 6/7 (banded 4/13) but rescheduled. I decided to fly to visit my family for my nephews graduation party and didn't think it would be a good idea to have my first fill right before everything. Now I have it rescheduled for 6/21. I have to admit I had a few things that I probably shouldn't have had but I did listen to my band - even if I did push it a little bit.

I had a great time and did a few things I don't think I would have done last summer. Jumping in a bouncy house is fun and great exercise...just an FYI!

My BMI is now under 30 and qualifies for Overweight - Yay!

I had originally set my goal for 130 lbs and am now a little under 175. I'm not sure how I feel about having an "ultimate" goal right now. I am starting to feel like a specific weight or size shouldn't be my goal. My fear is that once I reach that goal I will start to put on weight. I have to keep the entire lifestyle change idea as my ultimate goal!

How is everyone else doing?

Who has had fills?

How did they go?

Anyone else eat any graduation cake?

Let's talk about fills. I know I keep thinking the more restriction I have the faster the weight will drop. HOWEVER, what happens when your band is "full" and you need to lose? What do they do then? What if there is no room left in your band to play with? My goal is to lose the weight and maintain it for a life time. Too many fills could be a bad thing.

 

My surgeon must fill his patients slowly as he told me on the day of my surgery that I would likely need 6 fills to reach optimization. I don't expect my weight to drop more rapidly with a fill but am hopeful that when I get my first fill I won't be as hungry as I am now. As it is now, I am hungry about an hour after I eat.

I have eaten bread. I have found almost nothing that i can not eat. I have not tried steak though.. that scares me. For the first time this week i did not lose weight Seems to have stalled. I hope its not a long stall. As for the fills. My understanding is you get fills till you get into that zone then you should not need fills.

 

Did you start with a whole grain bread? Did you toast it?

 

Try not to be disappointed about your weight loss stall. I stall sometimes, too, but a few days later I will have a significant drop. Hang in there.

I started with crackers then did the toast. Now i can eat just any bread so far. Even had pizza and did ok.

No fill needed today...YAY!

I do eat toasted bread now. There is a local bread called Natural Ovens made in Manitowoc WI. They have a carb conscious bread that I use. I also eat reduced fat triscuts, wheat thins and pretzels. I make sure I chew them well and have not had any problems with them.

my Dr said to stay away from bread posta and rice, I did try some bread didnt like the way it made me feel, had brown rice did ok with it, and mac and cheese didnt bother me either. Also think crust pizza didnt bother me.

I didnt get a fill this time either Dr said as lone as i was loosing weight and my apatite was under control ( not hungry between meals) that i didn't need a fill. I have only had 1 fill and he only put 2cc in it.

I started with crackers then did the toast. Now i can eat just any bread so far. Even had pizza and did ok.

 

Crackers sound great...almost as good as toast. Toast or bread isn't something I usually crave.

Didn't dream I'd be able to eat pizza. Figured I'd have to watch my family eat it without me.

Thanks for replying!

my Dr said to stay away from bread posta and rice, I did try some bread didnt like the way it made me feel, had brown rice did ok with it, and mac and cheese didnt bother me either. Also think crust pizza didnt bother me.

I didnt get a fill this time either Dr said as lone as i was loosing weight and my apatite was under control ( not hungry between meals) that i didn't need a fill. I have only had 1 fill and he only put 2cc in it.

 

It's great to read that your band is working well for you with only one fill! I hope I will have the same experience.

 

My rules for Week 4 has a note saying bread, rice, popcorn, and pasta are difficult to digest and often contain empty calories. Above the note, it says 100% whole grain breads, cereals, pasta, rice, and potatoes are allowed. I love pasta, too, but plan to buy only the whole grain type and to cook it only to the al dente stage. However, I haven't been craving pasta as much, so I am going to try to hold off on it. My only carb cravings have been popcorn, which I never plan to eat again, and bread, which I seldom craved before the band.

 

I went shopping earlier this week because I needed some new clothes. It was an all-day trip. I took water with me and protein drinks for the entire day. By the time I should have been drinking the 3rd protein supplement for dinner, I was nauseated at the thought, and decided to wait to eat until I arrived home, which was about 2 hrs away. I didn't make it. I ended up stopping at a Walmart about 40 miles from my house, and I purchased some deli turkey.

No fill needed today...YAY!

 

I do eat toasted bread now. There is a local bread called Natural Ovens made in Manitowoc WI. They have a carb conscious bread that I use. I also eat reduced fat triscuts, wheat thins and pretzels. I make sure I chew them well and have not had any problems with them.

 

It's great that you didn't need a fill!

 

I doubt if I can find the Natural Ovens bread since I don't live in WI, but the carb conscious type is definitely a good idea that I hadn't thought of. Reduced fat Triscuits and Wheat Thins sound wonderful! Of course, they both have contributed to my weight struggles over the years. I didn't dream I would be able to have those at some point.

 

I am going to try to stick to the diet that the dietician gave me on the day of my surgery. At least until I reach my goal. I am scared that I will get off-track if I start to deviate. In the past, I've been an all or nothing dieter...even one little bite of something not on the plan would de-rail me, then I seem to have trouble getting started again.

 

Thanks for posting what works for you---it helps so much!

Hi Ladies,

Great to read your updates! :-) I haven't been on here for a couple weeks now and I've been feeling so bad about my progress I needed to come on and see how everyone is doing and see if it gives me a litle hope. I'm a little relieved to see I'm not the only one struggling, but you all seem to be doing so great!

When I had my surgery on 4-26 I was 229 lbs. (pre surgery diet and preop lost over 30 pounds) The doctor said she put about 4 cc's at the time of surgery. I went in for my first fill on 5-24 and weighed 225 lbs, so only 4 pounds lost in a month!!! She added 1.5 cc's bringing me up to about 5.5.

For the first 2 weeks things went well and I dropped down to about 219, then the next week down to 218 where I have stayed since.

I know what some of my problems are: I'm eating a tiny bit more than I'm supposed to, I'm eating sweets once in a while (usually a mini ice cream cone that has about 150 calories), and I'm eating more often than I'm supposed to because I'm only satisfied for about 3 hours. My days go from about 8am to 2am, so that's a long time to only eat 3 meals...hence snacking or a 4th and sometimes 5th meal.

Excercising - my doctor wants me to walk every day for about 40 minutes, which I love to do and am happy to have energy to excersise, but I've not been good about doing it every day. It's been more like 2-3 times a week, but sometimes I'm walking/running for up to 1 1/2 hours.

My doc wants me to come in once a month regardless if I need a fill or not so they can check in with me. It's time for my next fill and I'm hesitant. I know logically it makes sense since I'm having these issues with being hungry and snacking, but I don't get stuck right now and I can pretty much eat anything I want (I stay away from bread just because I don't want to start that again) but I do get full quickly and can't hold much...it just doesn't last long. If I get another fill I'm worried I'll start getting stuck and having pains and not being able to eat salad and such.

If you compare what I was eating for a meal (or the whole day) from 6 months ago to now, it's crazy how different it is. I feel like I'm eating 20-30% (calories and portion size) of what I used to....so why am I not losing? I know my doc will ask about what kinds of foods I'm eating, and I've been fairly good about trying to mostly eat lean proteins, but I don't want to feel like I'm "dieting"....I just want to have restriction so I'm not eating too much and not too often.

This is the kind of stuff other people without the band don't think about. They think it's just get the surgery and poof you're skinny. LOL I overheard someone in a dressing room the other day saying to someone else that she had lost 70 pounds. The other person said "wow! How'd you do that?"...the first lady says "I had surgery". It was silent for a second and the other person goes "ohhhh". That was it...no questions, no congratulations on the hard work, no nothing. They don't realize how much this is about choices and will power and hard work. Congrats to all of you for keeping up the hard work!!!!

I was supposed to call the doctors office this week to set up my next appointment and I put it off, so now I have to wait until next week to call. Hopefully they can get me in soon so I'm not in trouble. LOL

Two reasons to celebrate today. . .

My daughters 17th birthday and I am down 100 lbs from last August!

70 pre-band and 30 post band.

My doc wants me to come in once a month regardless if I need a fill or not so they can check in with me. It's time for my next fill and I'm hesitant. I know logically it makes sense since I'm having these issues with being hungry and snacking, but I don't get stuck right now and I can pretty much eat anything I want (I stay away from bread just because I don't want to start that again) but I do get full quickly and can't hold much...it just doesn't last long. If I get another fill I'm worried I'll start getting stuck and having pains and not being able to eat salad and such.

If you compare what I was eating for a meal (or the whole day) from 6 months ago to now, it's crazy how different it is. I feel like I'm eating 20-30% (calories and portion size) of what I used to....so why am I not losing? I know my doc will ask about what kinds of foods I'm eating, and I've been fairly good about trying to mostly eat lean proteins, but I don't want to feel like I'm "dieting"....I just want to have restriction so I'm not eating too much and not too often.

I understand how you feel.

Talk with your doctor - if you are satisfied with how things are going right now, they should be too. One of the reasons I chose LB was because I felt a slow weight loss was better for me and I was more likely to make a lifelong change if I took it off slowly.

I also have the same concerns about getting a fill and then having a stuck episode. I have not had any and hope never to have one!

My doc wants me to come in once a month regardless if I need a fill or not so they can check in with me. It's time for my next fill and I'm hesitant. I know logically it makes sense since I'm having these issues with being hungry and snacking, but I don't get stuck right now and I can pretty much eat anything I want (I stay away from bread just because I don't want to start that again) but I do get full quickly and can't hold much...it just doesn't last long. If I get another fill I'm worried I'll start getting stuck and having pains and not being able to eat salad and such.

If you compare what I was eating for a meal (or the whole day) from 6 months ago to now, it's crazy how different it is. I feel like I'm eating 20-30% (calories and portion size) of what I used to....so why am I not losing? I know my doc will ask about what kinds of foods I'm eating, and I've been fairly good about trying to mostly eat lean proteins, but I don't want to feel like I'm "dieting"....I just want to have restriction so I'm not eating too much and not too often.

I understand how you feel.

Talk with your doctor - if you are satisfied with how things are going right now, they should be too. One of the reasons I chose LB was because I felt a slow weight loss was better for me and I was more likely to make a lifelong change if I took it off slowly.

I also have the same concerns about getting a fill and then having a stuck episode. I have not had any and hope never to have one!

Okay so this looks weird - I was trying to do a "partial quote" from my3sons75 and messed up. - The first two paragraphs are from her post!

I'm a little relieved to see I'm not the only one struggling, but you all seem to be doing so great!

 

This is the kind of stuff other people without the band don't think about. They think it's just get the surgery and poof you're skinny. LOL I overheard someone in a dressing room the other day saying to someone else that she had lost 70 pounds. The other person said "wow! How'd you do that?"...the first lady says "I had surgery". It was silent for a second and the other person goes "ohhhh". That was it...no questions, no congratulations on the hard work, no nothing. They don't realize how much this is about choices and will power and hard work. Congrats to all of you for keeping up the hard work!!!!

 

I was supposed to call the doctors office this week to set up my next appointment and I put it off, so now I have to wait until next week to call. Hopefully they can get me in soon so I'm not in trouble. LOL

 

It's great to read your update. Try to not get discouraged. Add your pre-op weight loss to your weight loss since you've been banded and you have done very well.

 

It sounds like you recognize what you need to do differently. Most of us didn't develop weight issues overnight, so we likely won't be able to get rid of that baggage overnight. I personally expect to always struggle with my weight, but at least with the band, I now have a tool to help me.

 

You're right about many other people not understanding. First, most of those people haven't truly struggled with obesity all of their lives. Without that experience, it's more difficult for them to understand. And secondly, they see people who have been successful with the band, and therefore, without having any details, they assume it is a quick fix. I myself thought this until I started researching weight loss surgery. I think others' lack of understanding is one of the reasons I am hesitant to tell about my being banded. That, and the fear of failure (i.e. eventually gaining all of my weight back like I usually do).

 

There will be struggles in our future and lots of hard work, but we CAN do it!

Still feeling like a turtle here but I'm moving forward. Lost another 1/2 lbs this last week which put me just below 190, FINALLY!

If anyone is wondering where I've been lately... I've been in the process of moving into my own little place. First time in my life I've lived completely alone so its been a little strange. I've always had my babies at home with me but now it's just me. Good thing about this is I can really focus on eating healthy and not be concerned about what the family eats. Needless to say, my kids are on a different diet than I should be on.

Went shopping yesterday and purchased all healthy foods. Between that and my protein shakes it should be easier now to stay on course.

Do turtle walk? Is that the proper term for a racing turtle? If it is, this turtle is on a steady but slow drive to the finish line.

Hope everyone else is focused and doing well.

j~

Julz, good to see your post was wondering where you have been. glad you turtling along, we WILL win this chalange. keep in touch