Since I am facing losing my band next week, I have to find a way to do it on my own. I would MUCH MUCH MUCH rather do it with the band, but that's just too bad. So, I'm going to have to suck it up, and be brutally honest with myself and my pre-band eating habits.

1. Being constantly hungry is NOT a license to eat a whole large deep dish pizza. Or a whole bucket of fried chicken. Or a whole casserole of lasagna.

2. Occasionally having a piece of pizza, or fried chicken, or lasagna is NOT the problem. However, if that doesn't satisfy my hunger, I will have to fill up on less calorically dense foods, like fruits, vegetables and lean Proteins if I want to maintain my weight loss.

3. I will NOT drink WITH my meals.

4. I will eat regularly, and not wait until I am STARVING and in a panic about food.

5. I will PLAN. I will PLAN. I will PLAN.. That means I will have nutritious food available for every meal. I will not fall into my prior bad habits of hitting fast food places and super-sizing because I never got around to making a lunch to take to work.

6. I will CHEW my food.

7. I will eat SLOWLY.

8. I will stop eating after 20 minutes.

9. I will find ways to distract myself from thoughts of food when I am not physically hungry.

10. I will NEVER DIET.

11. I will make nutritious choices 70% of the time.

12. When I have a bout of unstoppable hunger/cravings, I will satisfy my craving for any kind of food with ONE normal person serving. If I am still hungry I have permission from myself to eat as much vegetables, fruit and lean proteins as I can cram in there.

13. I will Water load before meals.

14. I will drink my gallon of water a day.

15. I will do a minimum of 20 minutes walking each day.

16. I will faithfully and frequently check-in with my beloved bandster buddies to receive the support, love and understanding that I will need, particularly when things are not going as well as planned.

17. I will practice using my emotional hunger tools, and revisit my eating addiction therapy tools often.

18. I will concentrate on HEALTH, not weight.

19. I will open myself to inspiration.

20. I will be gentle and loving with myself every step of the way.

Feel free to add things I may have missed!!

Donali, you have such a great attutude aboutthis whole thing. I realy believe that you will be successful once your band is removed. We are all here for you with lots of support just as you have been here for us. I think you covered all the bases with your post on how you are going to hanfdle this. You're awesome!

Donali: You will succeed I am positive to maintain and to even continue to lose. Don't get discouraged if you see a weight gain in the first few months after the removal of your band. I am sure that will be normal but to acknowledge that and stay on track.

The only that I might add to your wonderful list is to add a "fasting" day in there. Maybe do one day either a week or every two weeks of a juice fast with Protein Bars or Protein Drinks as supplements. I do that now and it jump starts my weight loss when I hit a wall. It also helps cleanse the system of all the abuse we sometimes throw into it.

Keep up the positive attitude and all things are possible. We are all here for you.

Penni -

Thanks for the suggestion. I do absolutely mean to have a fast day occasionally, but hadn't seriously commited to a day every week yet.

I did a couple of juice fasts prior to my compulsive eating therapy, and loved them once I could get myself psyched into it. I think one day a week is much more reasonable (I was trying for a 40 day fast, and made it to 17 before I mind-gamed myself into eating.)

I will definitely put that on my list.

Donali, you are my hero.

'Nuff said.

(I was trying for a 40 day fast, and made it to 17 before I mind-gamed myself into eating.)

Are you NUTS? You are not Ghandi!!

Are you NUTS?

Most definitely. You have to ask? lol

I was doing a cleanse. I had a book. I was so totally sold.

But... I let it be about WEIGHT and not HEALTH, so was relying on the scale to judge my success. Hence the mind games, and then the early demise of my cleanse. A two week basic fast, plus a day for each year of life to repair all the damage done to my cells with preservative and free radicals, etc.

Another pitfall to avoid that I forgot to put on my list.

21. I will not give the scale power over my journey.

Donali, your list is fantastic. As usual, you've given all of us "food for thought". We can all live by your list. In your profession, are you a teacher and/or counselor, because you really have a knack for guiding others? You are terrific!

You are awesome....I have found a lot of things on your list that I need to incorporate into my daily activities!

Thaks so much for all of your knowledge, wisdom, and encouragement.

Birdee

Jeanie - thanks for the kind words. I am but a lowly computer-type person doing work inbetween wordprocessing and lowlowlowlevel programming. Lowlowlowlevel programming is a step above macros. I've just been one of those people who always seems to be searching on an emotional/spiritual level with a lot to learn. My soul feels good if I feel like I'm "spreading the love." My posts are much more level headed than my gut reactions, thank goodness.

Birdee - adding positive things is a good way to make changes, as Robin a.k.a. CoffeeWench so eloquently puts it. Instead of focusing on what we DON'T want to do, we focus on what we DO want to do. Spin can make all the difference.

A couple of my items are phrased a negatives - I need to reword them...

Alexandra - you know you rock.

Michelle - you too.

Anybody I have missed, please know how much I appreciate each and every one of you. The outpouring of love and care I have received from this group has exceeded my wildest imaginations.

Lovin your work Donali

Holy Cow Donali!!:think

This came as such a shock to me that i needed a few days to respond.

I want to say i am so sorry you are losing your band.I am so proud of how you are handling this.I am sure you will be successful.It will of course be harder without the band but you seem so strong and you HAVE learned so much.

Take care of you and know that we are here to hold you up if you falter!

All my best wishes

XX00

Chantal

Donali, I am soooo sorry you're facing this disappointing situation, but you seem to have a good approach to making the best of it.

Only thing I might suggest would be to consider keeping some records of how much you're eating on Fitday or something like that so you don't lose perspective of how much you should be eating.

I am sure you've learned enough from having the band for the time that you did to be able to maintain your good habits. Good luck.

I agree with quakergirl!!! Donali, I haven't known you too long but you have already become a daily inspiration to me. Please don't stop communicating with us post band, let us help support you for awhile. You have been a huge part of the support system on this forum by always providing consistent educated advise and information to people (us newbee's:)) Thanks again for all of the past advice you've given me and helping me find this link again when our computer died (it is now resurected). Maintain the band principles even after the band and you'll do fine. Teresa

Donali, Isn't there another option for you? A mid-band or can't you have the band put back on after the healing process occurrs?

Barb

Donali my pretty petunia, I'm sorry it took so long for me to reply to this post, but DeLarla's been busy getting kicked off the StupidBandster board. I removed myself from that ugly, ignorant board, and now I'm home in the land of love.

I realize we're all different, but I think my number one sabotage is to allow myself to get too hungry. It screws me every time, so I'm glad to see that one on your list. Could you bump it up to a higher number for Lis?

My friend (hi secret friend) shared a private conversation she had with Nurse Jessie, and it seems Lopez has a higher rate of erosion. Don, any thoughts?