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.

Hey Friends!!

It's so great to hear you are losing right along. I WISH I was part of the group that "suddenly" lost 8# after a slow down. It seems that I have to FIGHT for every pound I (slowly) lose. I have to honestly just focus on the fact that I'm not gaining and am keeping it off (for once). This is far harder to lose than I imagined.

On Sept. 21, I will have been banded 2 years. I work out 2 hours almost every day of the week, have a personal trainer for two of those days, drink, and am eating pretty well. OF course, some days I slip up...but it doesn't last long. I still have not hit the -100 mark. I'm right at -91 and thankfully lost about 3 lbs in the last 2 weeks (not a steady trend, by the way). I have good restriction and go for my check ups when I am supposed to...I think my body is just holding on to every pound relentlessly!!!

SO, keep up the great work..it's inspiring to hear!

Rose

367/276/185(?)

here's to hoping that will happen. i too am at a "pause" - good term! i haven't lost a thing since going on mushies. and last nite i went to a get-together to celebrate surviving our first wk of school and ate crap and drank too much. here's to the start of a new day!

Boy these last 5 lbs are hanging on tight. I'm ITCHING to be done with them because then my BMI will be in the 40s. I don't know why I care about that so much. I think it's partially the BMI and partially that I was in the 260s (266, specifically) for a LOOONNGG time -- I feel that that was my "real" weight before I gained this last bit when I started work. If I can get below that, maybe I'll believe I'm making real progress. I keep thinking I'm going to wake up and this whole band journey is going to have been a dream.

And chin up! It isn't a plateau until you've gone about 6 weeks with no loss of inches or fat... you're far from plateaued, you're (as I call it) "paused"!!

This is interesting. It's something I'd actually been meaning to ask my band doctor about. He uses the term "plateau" for no loss in 2 weeks (though "paused" does somehow make me feel better -- thanks!). I'd read, here and elsewhere, different (longer) timeframes for the word. So, I looked it up in a medical dictionary and it didn't have an associated timeframe at all. Then (because I'm a lawyer and it's my job to be annoyingly precise) I scoured the Department of Health website and couldn't find a definition.

Where does your definition come from Wheetsin? In my experience, you always know what you're talking about with weight loss and I'm interested in your source!

BTW, since I seem to have a pause at the same weights as you, would you mind telling me if you've had one since 279? I want to be prepared....

Well, I met my mini goal this morning, which was to leave the 50s (BMI). It's kind of weird to me that if I were banded today, I wouldn't technically be a member of this group. I still have a long way to go, but this was a big one for me. Century Club, here I come!

Thanks to all for your past and continued support. Life in the 40s is looking good.

Way to go, Julie! Your weight loss has been phenomenal!

Hello! I am a newbie here. I am 5'2, 290 lbs, so that makes my BMI 53.

I am on the pre op liquid diet, and I should be having my surgery hopefully next week. I am miserable on this diet, but at my last appointment on september 8th I was 300. So 10 lbs in 4 days is phenomenal!!! yay!!

I am inspired by all if your weight loss stories!!!

So 10 lbs in 4 days is phenomenal!!! yay!!

Wow, that really is a phenomenal loss, Jewels! Congratulations! Hoping this success will make it easier for you to get through the difficult liquid-diet phase. Treat yourself kindly in other ways, and know that YOU CAN DO THIS!

I am just 4.5 months out, and my BMI has already dropped from 55.4 to 44. I am so thrilled! Lap band is really working for me.

Thank you sweetie!!! I am doing a little better, just waiting on my surgery date. Any ideas on how to boost weight loss?

Any ideas on how to boost weight loss?

Because you're on the liquid diet, you obviously can't drop your food intake. Which leaves physical activity for burning calories.

But why do you need to boost a weight loss that is already excellent? My feeling is, the liquid diet phase is not the time to make yourself crazy with increasing weight loss, since it's mostly beyond your control anyway.

Jewels,

My opinion is that the best way to boost weight loss in this journey is to keep very regular appointments with your doctor to ensure you get a fill as soon as possible when you need one. That will keep the "food monster" off your back and keep you making rational choices, long term, about food and exercise. The people I see struggle the most are the ones that don't have frequent access to their doctor, whether due to the doc's policy, costs, or distance.

Good luck on your journey and we're rooting for you!

Hi my name is Teresita....ok no it's not but I'm not telling. I am fat. I am tired of being fat. No, I am tired of feeling like a monster. 459-388-375-250 these numbers are getting on my nerves. Food has always been there for me. No I don't like the affects it has on my body but it is consistantly, readily available to me. Yes I like to see the scale go down, I like to see my clothes get lose or even just fit. But life is not smooth, what am I suppose to do when I am stressed out. What if I don't want to tell a girlfriend my problems just so she can go and repeat them to seomone else. If I could just go and get that big comfort meal and make all my problems go away for a few minutes or maybe the rest of that evening. I am just trying to heal myself without burdeoning someone else. There is so much I want to say but feel like I can't. Thank you for listening to my crap. Now you can return to your regularily scheduled boradcast. Wheetsin love the avatar.

what am I suppose to do when I am stressed out. What if I don't want to tell a girlfriend my problems just so she can go and repeat them to seomone else

I don't confide too much in people. Some people some things but in as many ways as I'm wide open, there are an equal number of ways that I'm closed up. How you can handle your stress depends on what's causing the stress. Some problems we can fix, some we can't, but we can always play a part in what we allow them to do to our lives. So let's start with the basics. What's stressing you?

And thanks, you're sweet!

I started typing my stressors but I don't want to share those things with the world. Some are so personal. Here is one, moving soon, gotta pack and I have been avoiding it. I have been going to the grocery store like crazy buying nothing, 4 or 5 things here and there. Somebody tell me why do I have about 5 packs of chicken in the freezer now. Duhhhhh

Teresita,

When I get to feeling like that, I just go to sleep. It's the only thing, to me, that's as good as food. Drugs probably would be, but I'm not doing all this work to trade one problem for another. You don't have to rely on other people, but you do have to face what's stressing you and find an alternate source of relief. For me, sleep or, if that's not possible, zoning out to really loud music will usually be an adequate substitute.

Good luck and keep us posted.