We need a place where we can support each other through our "more than most" journey. Just as turtles don't get much out of hearing us talking about fast we're losing, maybe it would give us a nice break from "I'm getting banded because I need to lose 60 lbs".

I think we have our own unique challenges, expectations, baggage, etc. -- and we need our own little niche to support eachother. We all have a very long journey ahead of us, and need to band together.

I havent posted a reply in this thread for a while. But everyone seems to be having great success. 4 more days till I'm banded, getting really, really excited! I've been doing straight Opti-fast for 17 days, AAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!! I just keep concentrating on the four more days part. Keep up the good work everyone. Wish me luck on Friday. Big Paul - loved your thread, love to hear it just the way it is! Wheetsin - I posted a thread a while back about my pop-up problem, and your reply helped out perectly, I just couldn't find the thread again to thank-you, so thank-you!

Way to go JoyceGA! Rock on! :rockon:

I'm getting banded in a few days and I have to lose about 230 lbs. I know I can do it too!:cheer2::eek:

Thanks for sharing your success! You're an inspiration to me!

You all ROCK!! Thanks for the inspiration...JOYCE...WTG!!! That is incredible!!!

I hope there's room for me to squeeze in here and join all of you cool losers! This appears to be a great thread for those of us traveling south together from UP NORTH.

I have not fought the battle with much courage these past few days. But reading your posts have given me a fresh desire to be successful today. Thank you. I have started my morning out right. I plan to be successful through the evening hours as well.

Have any of you experienced this?? Following the first 3 weeks of surgery i was cooking for my family every breakfast and supper, and never had one temptation. But other people were uncomfortable eating around me because they thought I was struggling. Finally one evening, I can up the fight, and began eating...still only a fraction of what I used to eat, but I did move into solids too fast. (I'm not blaming my decision to make the wrong choice on others, but that was one of the factors) So, I was wondering how you have dealt with others feeling uncomfortable.

I've only had the impresion people were uncomfortable a few times, but I wouldn't say uncomfortable so much as wanting to make sure I'd be taken care of. Pre-op when we'd visit my parents we'd always take them out for dinner, and during our first post-op visit when we got there, they'd taken out stuff to thaw because they weren't sure I'd be able to eat anything. I've found that in my case, it was just a matter of educating them a little - helping them see that I could eat just about anything, I'm jsut going to eat a small amount of it. Now when we visit, they just ask, "Where can you eat?"

Weighed in this a.m. and 4 more pounds gone, which put me at 314. Very soon only single digits will separate me from the 2s. :dance:

Oh yeah, that's per my home scale, so who knows!

Grats Wheetsin!

Well, I am very much due to have my first fill, but my new school schedule won't allow it till the monday after memorial day

I am going to school for cometology so I am going from sitting at my desk all day to standing and moving all day! BIG CHANGE! Also, when at school, I can't snack and lunches are too short to overeat and breaks are too short to eat and water is more important than food, so, my calories are plummeting and I am very hungry. When I get home I am too tired to care. Only reason I am getting enough protein is cause of my morning cottage cheese andmy wonderful hubby who always has chicken waiting for me when I get home. Then I crash for the night. So hopefully I will start losing faster even before the fill. Can't wait for good restriction so I can stop feeling hungry.

BTW someone fax me some energy K? I have gone from 10 hrs of sleep a night to 6! Tough transition.

Waterlily, I've never tried it, but I've recently read on here about a protein drink that comes in a small bottle, only takes about 3 swallows to finish, and has something like 20gm in it. Something like that might help you meet your protein requirements. Lunch too short to overeat -- that's a good thing! Can you fit a nutritious meal in though?

So I'd been feeling really frumpy lately, because all of my work clothes (sz 28) were pretty much hanging off me, and I do make a lot of effort to look nice at work. My pants would catch on my hips and that would keep them from falling down, but I had to constantly pull the legs out of my shoes and the crotch was hanging to my knees - thug style. Even my tops were getting really questionable - I don't think twinsets are supposed to hang straight down like t-shirts! :tired

But at the same time my next size smaller pants were still just a tad too tight to wear... a little too pulled on the rear where, what I refer to as my "shelf", as located, and a little too taut in the thighs. So for the last two weeks I opted for the saggy baggy look over the "Just because I can get it on does not mean it fits" look.

This morning I'd had it. I did not want to go to work looking frumpy again. For me, how I appear really ties in a lot with how I feel, and I just don't feel good when I look messy. So I figured F'it, I'll put on the pants and maybe they're a little too snug, but by the time I wear them for an hour they'll be stretched out a bit anyway, so I grabbed a pair and put them on and they fit really well!

Now - I had to retire most of my 28s because I was afraid that if I sat the seam would literally rip out, which put me into a what - snug 32, comfortable 34? Something like that. I'll go with that. The pants I have on today are still size 28, but they are the same size measurements as my other 26s, which means...

I met my first mini-goal! Granted, they are still a little snug when I put them on, and it's 13 days past the date I'd set for my goal, but who cares? They're on, and it's still in the same month!

I am so excited tonight. I had a goal to be in the 2's by the 4th of July (huge family & neighbor camp out), but I had been stuck at 326 for a couple of weeks. I went into the Dr. today and was down 11 lbs. Now I think my goal may be possible.

I still have very little restriction (only in bite size not in amount of food consumed). I think going on liquid pre-op diet for a few days (not to mention getting the flu) really helped. I got out of my slump. You will too!

Thanks Wheetsin, I will look into that

Yes I have enough time to eat a healthy lunch, but I am afraid to eat anything that may not agree with me while at school. The hard thing is that we can't drink anything outside of the break room, so I have to go hours at a time without water, then I have to drink it all at once, making it hard at lunch time to drink and eat , I will figure it out though, this is only week 1, and I have a year to go. Grats on the size change by the way, I can finally wear my 30's comfortably yay, next stop 28's

Wahoo, the scale is moving a little faster

Down 3lbs since school started, so a pound a day

One more pound to my wedding day weight and a full quarter century

Can you tell I am excited :Banane08:

Hehe, have a great day everyone :Banane52:

Good luck to all out there, I started at 411 bmi over 50 and currently at 350 bmi 46.7. I have taken all info gathered on this web and from my Doc and have put it to work for me

OK, I'm 51 will be 52 on july 2. Whated so much to get all my wieght off with in a year. Don't look like I can loose 30lbs in 2months. If I hear one more time "when you are older it takes longer"...Dear God ..

I also feel like I look old...the skin saging thing. I can were a size 14 bathing suite but I have skin everywhere. I can't were a sleevless shirt at all. I'm looking for a dress for a wedding and I don't want to were a "mother of the bride dress" I have a 5 year old son!!!

I have found that reading this thread picks me up when I need it the most! I can't say enough how much it helps to know that all of y'all know exactly how I feel and where I'm coming from about every part of this lap band journey. I was told by a lady recently that she'd "heard" that the lap band doesn't work for extremely overweight people and I proudly told her that whoever told her that was full of....well you know what I said. I watch this show every morning called "I Lost It" and most of the stories deal with people that start their weight loss journey at a weight that I can't wait to get to! They talk about how horrible they feel and how depressed they are and I think, man I still weigh way more than they do and I can't believe how great I feel! When I get to that weight I'm probably gonna be dangerous!!!! I just thank all of y'all for always being here when I need a little boost!

hi, everybody--i haven't posted for a while....i have been doing good since surgery. i started liquid diet on may 1st--lost 21.5 lbs by surgery on the 11th. i believe i have lost at least 10 more lbs. in the last 2 weeks. i started yesterday with soft foods. that made me happy!! i started with a 65BMI and hope to see it drop and drop and drop. i have had a few tiny NSV'S since coming home. i am much more comfortable in my van's seat. my size 14 underwear is very baggy, i have lots less edema in my legs, and my liesure bra i have been wearing since surgery because of a n incision, is now very loose. yea, me!! i have size 52 I boobs--the more they shrink, the better !!! and also, my incisions have all healed and look very good--very tiny except for the port one. i am going to sign up for water aerobics classes for a month or so--hope to start in another week or two. even though i will be wearing a matching seersucker capri and top set instead of a swimsuit, i do not feel embarrassed, just excited to be able to go. i have bad arthritis and need knee surgery, this will be very good for my joints. i still have about another 160-170 lbs. to lose. oh, yea, i am also off of my wellbutrin (for depression) since my surgery. i am hardly taking any diuretics, just 2 or 3 times a week as needed. i am glad that everyone on this thread understands my super-sized issues. hope everyone enjoys the holiday weekend. :biggrin1: :biggrin1: :biggrin1: