hey guys, ]]

i'm 23 and i was banded july 3rd of this year i'm feeling back to my old-self again... (not feeling like i'm still recouperating from surgery anymore) i am scheduled for my 5th fill this week, i've lost over 20 lbs and people are telling me i look great. i am very lucky to have the support i do from my family and friends. my problem lies in the fact that i don't FEEL any different, and i certainly don't feel like i've lost over 20lbs! i can' see a difference in pictures of before and after, and i get weirdly frustrated when friends tell me things like "oh yeah, you can totally tell!" or "your face looks thinner too! " i know they are trying to be nice and i appreciate it, truly. but none of my friends have been overweight, ever. and i have never been anything EXCEPT overweight. even when i was a little kid! i cant even picture what i would look like thinner. and i just can't seem to snap out of this 'slump'. i feel almost depressed that I'M not seeing any progress which is making i very difficult to focus on being motivated.... i've been working out for an hour every night for te past two weeks, but nothings' helpong with the 'slump'

no one else seems to understand my feelings so i thought i would just ask here if anyone has ever been in the same boat..?

Hi mle,

I haven't been banded yet(Oct 15), but I have lost 28 lbs on my 6mth diet. I can't see any visual difference and no one has said anything and that is b/c they have all seen me loose & gain weight my whole life, so unless it's 50lbs they don't say anything. The good thing is I can feel it. My clothes don't feel tight. I just feel more comfortable in my skin. I can hardly wait to loose more. I know it's going to take time and as long as the scale is moving in the right direction I'm happy.

Try to give yourself time. Rome wasn't built in a day and our new sexy self won't be either, but it will happen.

I know the scary feeling of "hitting the diet wall" does not leave you during this journey. I assume when you say slump you mean the scale not moving. I would say go back to the basics. The only way to examine what is going on is to journal your intake each day. I use to use a spreadsheet, but got my information from caloriecount.about.com website which gives you all the food brands and easy to calculate your intake and then I paste the information in the spreadsheet. Last week, I started using myfitnesspal.com and that does the same, but has more foods and restaurant information. It also has a phone app so you can scan or just enter your food intake. Myfitnesspal prints each day, so I will start doing that because it has all the information I need to show my nutritionist. Everyone is doing this, and it is a way to make changes. You will have to weight your food and measure. If it is a Protein, I weigh and if it is not a solid i measure. I loss 6.5 since Aug 31 at my last doctor's visit eating 1 cup per meal not eating between meal, have no saline in my band, will get my first fill on the 19th, relying on high protein, high Fiber, Water, tea and coffee with sugar free coffeemate. Since surgery, on Aug 6th which is about 7 weeks, I've loss 12.9 pounds. Protein has gotten me this far, but in the last week, I have been needing to snack, but I only snack on salad, spicy cabbage,babybel cheese pieces, greek yogurt etc. only high fiber and high protein Snacks. I drink at least 12 glasses of water to keep myself from being hungry mostly crystal light peach tea and I sometimes heat that up for a tea to add more water. Example of what I eat in a day, Breakfast-1 egg, 1 6oz greek yogurt (non fat), with fruit that is about 1cup, that gives me 21 grams of protein. I start my day with high protein even if it means doing a shake and a yogurt. lunch, 1 cup turkey chilli home made, dinner, 5-6oz of steak and 2 oz of spicy cabbage (high fiber) or salad with low fat dressing. It is great you are working out, but if you are doing weight s you will lose inches which is great. I only walk about 30 mins per day. My nutri said the least amount you should exercise is 152 mins per week of exercise which equal about 20 mins per day. I do not eat any carbs unless it is in my daily fruit, dairy, Beans etc. Other carbs make me hungry. I hope this helped and if you want to continue a buddy system write me a private message and we can do a private chat or chat in the chatroom.

Hope this helps

The early stages are always hardest, I know they were for me too. Even when I'd lost 30 and 40 pounds and my clothes were too big, I'd still look in the mirror and not see any difference. I think a big part of it so many of us have such skewed self images to begin with, and our self esteem is so low, we can't see the good even when it's right in front of us. Literally.

I have a folder where I keep pictures starting from a week before surgery up until recently. I'm sure to take a new one at least every 2 months. It's when looking at those pictures I can really go "wow" as I see my progress.

Stick with it, soon you'll see the difference everyone else does.

the only thing i can say here is congrats to the 34 you have lost.

since *july*......heck i would say that is super fantastic

let me ask, are you feeling better? have your clothes got looser? have you

bought any new clothes (that are smaller than you were before? are you

eating better? are you able to walk around better?

like you, i cant picture when i was slimmer either but you know what, i dont

think about that. i think about right now.

sure some people lose faster than us (me included) some are way more mobile than

i am. and yes, some will reach (their) goal way before.

but you know what, you are doing what works for you.

get out of that (slump) put a smile on that gorgeous face and do what you have

to do to make yourself healthy.

the scale is a fickle thing. i would rather go by how loose my clothes are then

by a scale anyday. i weigh once a month at my dr's follow ups. thats it. that works

for me and it keeps me honest.

if you thought the band was a cure all, its not. you are the one who is making this work.

and you are doing great. 34 pounds is nearly 7 bags of 5lb bags of suger. try loading that around all day in your purse. def a success story to me gf.

you have in there. this forum is outstanding for support. if you need it, let us know.

have a great and wonderful day

I feel ya girl. I have been successful with my band since July 6th (lost 45 lbs even!) and still feeling like I am not being successful. I don't know if it is lack of support or just a mental block. I am feeling really down today about my progress and ability to control my food. Good luck getting through this slump. My attempt to get out of it is to buckle down for 5 days. Really put in the 100% effort. No eating out. No drinking. No couch eating. Get into the gym a few times. Walk more. And hopefully by Saturday I will have hit my reset point and feel better about myself.

Not sure what else to tell you. If you figure out how to get out of this slump first let me know! Good luck to you!

thank you all so very much! i am so glad i found this site! it's so different than just talking to my family/friends about this because they could never understand what it's like to go through this process. my dad (53) had lap band almost 3 years ago and has done wonderfully! almost 180lbs i think... i'm so proud of him. however he and i don't talk much about the emotional side of lap band. we're good with the logistics lol but not on the self-image topics. the 'slump' i mentioned above is just all in my head, i realize that the weight is coming off because i'm seeing the scale, however i can't connect that knowledge with my emotions. it will take time to adjust, i know... like i said it's wonderful to have such support, so thank you all for your kind words and encouragement, tips and advice! <3

thank you all so very much! i am so glad i found this site! it's so different than just talking to my family/friends about this because they could never understand what it's like to go through this process. my dad (53) had lap band almost 3 years ago and has done wonderfully! almost 180lbs i think... i'm so proud of him. however he and i don't talk much about the emotional side of lap band. we're good with the logistics lol but not on the self-image topics. the 'slump' i mentioned above is just all in my head' date=' i realize that the weight is coming off because i'm seeing the scale, however i can't connect that knowledge

with my emotions. it will take time to adjust, i know... like i said it's wonderful to have such support, so thank you all for your kind words and encouragement, tips and advice! <3[/quote']

We're here for you! Hope to see you around the forum a lot

Wow, congrats to your dad! Ya, you can't talk to most men about emotions.lol

Continue doing what you've been doing!

You're awesome!