As I was walking from the train to my office this morning two thoughts struck me like a shovel in the back of the head.

My first thought was that I have lost 90 pounds and I haven’t really noticed. There have been times when I have lost weight before but on those occasions I was highly motivated. As soon as the motivation waned I put the weight back on. This time I would say that my motivation level is, at best moderate and I have managed to lose 90 lbs. For the last 2 months I have lost weight at a slow rate, this is also abnormal for me and one of the things I am most excited about. In the past if I was not losing big I was gaining big. That sort of weight loss and gain, as you all know, is bad.

I measure weight loss in increments of five (old habits die hard) only because I could lose 5 pounds a week easily. Now it takes at least 2 and often 3 weeks for me to lose 5 pounds.

The amazing part is that I keep losing, it has been an adjustment, but even when I feel discouraged I am unable to put on any significant weight. I feel strongly that my band has made it possible to moderate weight loss and gain and by doing so it has also had a moderating affect on my motivation and moods. I no longer seem to get all depressed and eat 6000 calories because I am unhappy due to a loss of control or a sudden 3 pound gain due to salt intake.

The second thought that struck me was that I needed to tell everyone at Lap Band Talk that the band works. I feel strongly that I made the right decision and that the future is bright. When I initially decided to get banded I did so because I thought that the band would be a weapon in my battle with obesity and it has. It is one weapon and a good one at that. No longer do I feel like I have brought a knife (and fork, just to add a little humour) to a gunfight.

I have learned a lot from the good folks I have met hear at LBT and I wanted to thank each and every one of you for your advice, guidance, fairness and most of all your differences. I believe that each of you have made my band a more affective weapon by ensuring that I understand that I needed to learn how to use the weapon and that I knew that it was not going to end the war only better prepare me for battle.

Finally I wanted to say that I know that everyone’s experience is different and success varies by individual. I don’t want to infer that the lap band is the answer and that it should work for everyone and if it doesn’t you have failed. We are all fighting our own personal wars and different wars require different weapons.

Last but not least I need to make this statement, if anyone wants to know what I think about the effectiveness of Gastric banding I say loudly

<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p> </o:p>

IT WORKS<o:p></o:p>

<o:p> </o:p>

P.S. Sorry about all the war analogies but I like the knife and fork joke so I stuck with gun and war theme<o:p></o:p>

TommyO,

Great for you!!! You should post your surgery date, your before and your after weight. Keep up the good job! Contragulations to you.

"I knew that it was not going to end the war only better prepare me for battle."

I totally agree. I have just begun to start referring to my band as "my secret weapon".

Such a "guy-themed" post LOL. I love it TommyO. I'm having a good band day today, so I'm right here with ya on the "It Works!" excitement. I just updated my scale journal on my NSV thread, and the small ups and downs add up to a consistent loss over time. The scale inches lower by the week. Yay! "Don't take a knife and fork to a gunfight." Excellent advice.

Congrats Tommy O! Aren't we all waging war? In my opinion, the advantage of slower weight loss, gives us the time to readjust our relationship with food. It's not a perfect relationship, by far, but I am working on it!!!

Shawn

((I was just wondering where youve been lately - good to see you!))

You are so right TommyO! The realism that I do not have BIG weight gains, (generally keep the same weight) is a positive result from the band.

Very good post! And its good to hear some great feedback from the opposite sex.

Congrats to you. You are going an awesome job. Keep up that motivation, it works wonders.

I am pre-op and still in the the pre-op diet stage, but I know a great number of people who have been banded and if you follow what you eat and exercise wisely this is a grt tool:faint:

I have lost weight before but on those occasions I was highly motivated. As soon as the motivation waned I put the weight back on.

Yes! Yes! Yes! This is me to a T! Motivation is waning now.. but the band just keeps on working! It's my stealthy ninja band! Quietly fighting the battle in the behind enemy lines, while the war rages on at the front. :bandit

I'm loving my "secret weapon" - it works!

What a great thing to hear! We start out in faith... it's great to know that it really does work!

Congrats Tommy!

Thanks for your post, Tommy...as someone out only 2 months from surgery, I need to be reminded that this really does work. And congratulations on the weight loss! You are doing fantastic.

Emily

Congrats on the weight loss.... that is awesome!

I believe, just for me, that the band and I are working together to fight this battle. It is a lot of work for me, but it is so worth it. If it was easy would I learn to correct my bad eating habits? NO. I would just repeat them.

Day by day I learn how to healthier and of course looking better is the bomb!!!!!!

Thanks for posting..... you an inspiration:clap2:

Thanks TommyO. I think we all need to hear inspirational stories like this to remind us why we were banded and to give us hope. We can all see bits of ourselves in this.

Thank you, Thank you, Thank you

That post makes me feel a lot of hope.

Keep up the good work. and thanks for encourging outhers :clap2::clap2:

The amazing part is that I keep losing, it has been an adjustment, but even when I feel discouraged I am unable to put on any significant weight

I was thinking about this the other day. I was sayng to some friends online (non band related site but we have a weight loss board) that I'd struck a bit of a plateau and everyone was surprised, they all thought I"d have this surgery and that the weight would just automatically fall off.

But for me the really really big advantage of the band is that on bad days, during bad weeks you dont gain weight. Yep, my weight loss is slow now and yep, its 2-3 weeks to lose 5lb (and longer) but I cant just "give up" like I once would have done. I simply cant eat that way anymore.

When I dont behave like a dieter - ie. when I dont keep a rough control of calories and when I dont mostly avoid fattening foods, I dont lose weight. I've had to step up my exercise and am now running regularly as well as going to the gym. That's been absolutely vital to keep weight coming off. So you have to do all the hard work still. Its just that when you have a breather or fall off the wagon a bit or simply dont try so hard for while you dont start to regain, it doesnt turn into a huge binge. And I can see now how I wont simply start to get heavier when I reach my goal weight.

It really is amazing. I wanted to feel like *I* have done a lot of the work myself and I do. It's still within my personal control, its not the band doing it, its me and I'm very proud of that.