I had a really bad day today and didn't make the best choices for food at all. I mean - after I ate the things that I did I knew that I shouldn't have eaten it and felt bad but I reverted to my old ways. This is what I had today:

1/2 subway turkey sub w/chedder cheese and vegetables, shrimp over fettucini, a roll, mixed vegetables, breaded cauliflower, 2 turtles and some butterfinger ice cream. Now I KNOW I shouldn't have eaten this stuff but it was in my mouth and in my stomach before I could even say stop. I don't know what it was but it seemed like I was just so hungry today!!! I mean - I have 3 cc's in my band and to me there is very minimal restriction. Every once in a while I will feel it down my back and know that I either took too big a bite or that I should stop eatting but that is rare. My doctor gave me a fill on the 25th of Feb when I had my port repaired. I saw him this last week and he said that since I had lost 5 pounds since the last time he saw me he wouldn't give me a fill. I would have to wait until April for another checkup to see how my progess is coming. I guess I am just a little discouraged right now because even loosing those 5 pounds was HARD WORK with the little resctriction that I have. I mean I can eat ANYTHING and trying to keep the weight off that I have already lost is a struggle. I mean if I could do it by myself I wouldn't have asked for some help by having the band placed.....ok...just feeling a little down and need some encouragement. Thanks!

You have lost an average of 2.21 pounds per week for 16 weeks. Most banded people would KILL for stats like that.

Just putting things into perspective,

Sue

Oh Sue - I completely understand what you are saying!! Really I do and I am glad that I have lost all the weight that I have - there is not doubt about it..........but what I am saying is that I have VERY LITTLE restriction.....I can eat ANYTHING that I want. It is a struggle every day to make the right choices in foods (and I know with the band it would still be like that) I am just struggling to KEEP the weight off due to the lack of restriction. I feel like I am on a diet all the time . Do this, do that - don't do this or that. And quite honestly I think that's what made me do it. I mean I can LITERALLY eat damn near the same amount I could pre-band and that is what is the hard part. Believe me when I say I AM grateful for the amount that I have lost so far!!

"Now I KNOW I shouldn't have eaten this stuff but it was in my mouth and in my stomach before I could even say stop." Wow if there were enough numbers to count how many times I have said that. Your right it is moments like that that has put us in the predicament we're in. But the great part about where you are now is that it is just temporary. You know that next month you can get an adjustment and again it will be easier to say no before your stomach takes over. That is something WE overeaters haven't had before. So keep your chin up and squeek yourself through this month and before you know it you'll be having your fill and gaining back the control.

Keep up the good work!!

Not that I have been banded long, but I wanted to encourage you to hang in there - my doc says to be patient with myself, I have a life-time of bad eating habits to get over, and once in a while those will pop up and I'll blow it - but the difference now is that I will know it when I do blow it!!

I was banded on March 1st, so I have not had a fill as yet - that will be on April 19th. Like I said, I can't speak from experience of a banded and filled perspective, but I can speak to patience with yourself!!

By the way - my doc is Dr. Chiang, he works with Dr. Burhop in Milwaukee -- Cool!

Patty G

I'm going to echo what Kathy and Patty said; Don't beat yourself up about it! Negative self-talk doesn't do you any favors at all. A fill will come and by then you may have gained a pound or two. You just keep going; this is a long run we're on and you can't change overnight.

Carmen,

Sorry to hear about your day...I've been fluctuating so much with my restriction it's been driving me nuts! I decided to forgo my fill on April 2nd and wait until May 7th...I was really tight around my period so I want to see if that happens again...

Hey...who knows...you might lose weight eating like that too...I've been eating really well and have been stuck at 202 for almost the past two weeks...Leo mentioned to shake things up a bit and eat some junk...

We all have days...it will get better!

Carmen,

If you're as crazy as some of us (I'm not talking about Donali, really I'm not), even with more restriction, you will find ways to eat around the band. There are times we run into a brick wall and have to deal with the motivating factors and eating habits and patterns themselves. I know from personal experience that this process can take a long, long time.

If I get a tighter fill, I'll just eat more food that melts on the way down. ("My lunch order? I'll take a box of meringue Cookies and a side of a half gallon of Dreyer's Girl Scout Tagalong Ice Cream, please.") And I'll probably get a massive case of reflux in the process. I need to work on the "other things to do instead of shoveling food down my throat" issue. And I'm 57, so I've got many. many years of habits to deal with.

So, you didn't make the wisest choices for someone who wishes to consume a healthy diet. But have you crunched those foods into fitday.com to check on what you really consumed? It may be massive in terms of your first few solid-food meals, but not as horrible as you think overall. You are allowed to have a "less than perfect choices" day. Or even a "less than perfect choices" week. I seem to be in the middle of a "less than perfect choice" fiscal year, and I'm about ready to move on. But...

WE EACH NEED THE TIME WE NEED TO LEARN THE THINGS WE NEED TO LEARN.

Feel free to cross stitch those those words of wisdom onto a few pillows. (Then send them to me to tie to my head while pound it into the wall in frustration.)

Just keep on keeping on, and remember that if you mostly eat, what you mostly should, when you mostly should, you will mostly be healthy. The only thing you can fail is "a diet," and we're not on one of those!

Sue

Very wise words Sue!