I decided it was time for me to start a little 'home' for my journey. I am being banded Dec 18/06 with Dr. Ortiz in TJ. I live in Victoria, BC.

I have struggled with weight my whole life - no kidding. I am tired of it. I want to be in control of food, instead of the other way around. I am very confident in this procedure, and in the results I will have after it. I am a hungry person, and not a happy person when I am hungry. So then I eat to control my inner grouch, and get fatter and more depressed. I am sure you can all see where this is going.

I am married to a great supportive husband, and have 2 boys who are 21 and 18. My youngest is supportive of this procedure, but my oldest wants mommy just the way she is. He is worried about safety. My youngest is only worried about money....hmmm.... I might have to chat with him about that.:guess

I am off to work now, I hope anyone who pops by this thread, finds something of interest. Best wishes to you all.

So, I booked a fill for Mon March 19th. I celebrated by eating lasagna. I have 8 more pounds to lose to reach my Marhc goal. I need to be serious about that instead of having it as a 'wish'.

I booked my fill at a pharmacy in Arlington, WA that someone here I chat with on my Dr.'s site has used and highly recommends. It is without flouro. Apparently they do a lot of Dr. Ortiz' patients. I will try it once and then take it from there.

I have been thinking about what makes me eat. I think two big things are stress and exaustion.(sp?) I get comforted and rewarded for a long days work by food. I want to change that thinking. I teach poeple how to manage stress all day, so I need to start taking the time to apply it to my life, and I need to find myself a new reward for whan I come home tired at the end of the day. I am open to suggestions!:help:

It is so encouraging to spend time here and read about other peoples success. It helps me to 'believe'. Well, I am off to work...short day today (9 hours) so I hope to enjoy some sunlight. Take Care everyone and thanks for your support and kindness!

I am down another pound, that is 4 pounds in 3 weeks. Not exactly breaking any records, but I have not been perfect in my eating and my exercise has been inconsistant. I really want to make my March goal, I am committed to doing more exercise and eating a healthier. I get a fill on Monday, so that should help.

I love reading about each of you. Sorry I don't post very often, but I do skan through the posts as I eat my breakfast. Take care everyone!

Bandiva: four pounds in three weeks is a healthy weight loss. Losing weight too quickly can stress out the body and can lead to an equally quick weight gain further down the road. In fact this seems to be why many diets fail: the weight comes off quickly without the body having a chance to adjust to a lower set-point and then when we ingest a few extra calories those are converted instantaneously into unwanted fat!! The end result is that your metabolism becomes even more efficient at turning anything you eat into personal lard.

Remember that 4 lbs in 3 weeks is 8 lbs in 6 weeks and that they say that this biz of getting to your target weight the lapband way is a two-year project. IMHO you are doing very well, grrl!

Bandiva: Green is absolutely right....you are EXACTLY on track, my friend. That is how my loss has been....don't forget....AVERAGE of 1-2 lbs per week.....as impatient as I know you likely are, it IS better this way!

BTW, be careful of the "reading through posts as I eat breakfast" thing.....that is what I did and is how I spewed chocolate protein drink all over my keyboard one morning!!!! (unexpected slime/pb thingy!)....aaaah, the memory.....!!! :paranoid

Reallly though...if you manage to lose four lbs every 3 weeks you are doing AWESOME!!!! So don't knock it.

I agree Bandiva... there's no loss too small! Good job!

Your doing good Bandiva. They are right you are on track.

You all are THE BEST. I really appreciate your support. I am (have always been) hard on myself. I need to work on that. I suspect we all do. Thanks again.

Yoda...I know! I have caught myself a few times devouring food like a mad woman. I have resorted to eating high fibre cereal for breakfast with the most tiny spoon you have ever seen! It keeps me eating slow!

I bought a new laptop today! I get it on Tuesday...they are just putting what I want on it! I am very excited, I will be able to hang out with you guys and not be in pain from my crazy set up I have now.

I have been studying healing with crystals...guess what? I carry most of my pain in my stomach...now there is a shocker! I am learning techniques to relieve stress and heal the body through release both emotionally and physically. I will keep you posted when I actually know what I am talking about.

Huge hugs to everyone. xoxox!

Victoria.

Bandiva, your doing just great!!!!! And ya, your being to hard on yourself, but you know that already!!!

Enjoy the journey.

Hi everyone. I am back from my fill. I got another .5. I can feel restriction already, but so far no neg side effects. I went to a clinic in Arlington, WA. They were really great and gave me tons of useful information. I am off to work now, but I will write more later.

Hi Everyone. I have been out of town for a while so I haven't been posting. (I was at my sisters and her internet isn't hooked up yet. I haven't been doing very well. Havent gained but havent lost. I have been eating a lot of sweets, which is my main addiction. I also have not been exercising. I have lost 45 pounds, so I will be a week or two overdue meeting my goal of 50 lbs by the end of March. As long as I make it, I guess that is all that matters.

I find it really encouraging to read about you all and your daily activities, it is really supportive for me. I MUST get serious about the exercise. I have weaned myself off of the anti depressant that I have been taking for years, so I need the positive effects of exercise. Today is a new day, so I can start all over. Chocolate easter bunnies are safe for another day.

My biggest issue seems to be poor time management. I work too much, come home, eat garbage, and go directly to bed. I am working on that, but I will not master it until I make a schedule and stick to it.

Congrats everyone, you are doing so well! Take Care and keep on doing what you are doing cause it is working great for you! :clap2:

Bandiva I know exactly what you mean. I really need to get with the program too and get out and not just rely on the band to fix everything. Like you I work a lot and so sometimes I will just turn to what is easy. I have to break that way of thinking and manage myself better.

Even though you are getting frustrated you really are doing quite well. Good luck and go easy on yourself. :mad:

Thanks Dame J.

Another question I have, I had a fill March 18th...got another .5 in my band. I feel no difference. I can still eat anything, and have not lost anything. Have only pb.d once, one a piece of ham. Grrr. They said I can come back down and be topped up, but that get's expensive. Has this happened to anyone else? Maybe I should quit depending on the band so much, and insert a little exercise and will power.:help:

Hiya,

Re. the time management issue; it is just a matter of a mindset change. For those of you with kids, I know you "make time" to take your kids to their extracurricular activities etc and likely don't think twice about it. It is just changing your frame of mind so that you make time set aside for you...just as valuable (I know, easier said than done!) as you feel your time is for your spouse, kids, family, work etc (whatever the case may be).

For awhile there I was having difficulty "making time" for my exercise after work or in the evening....so I started getting up an hour earlier and doing my exercise first thing in the morning. It was great! Yeah, I HATED the actual "getting" up but once I WAS up and doing it; it was awesome. You just have to get over that initial hurdle of getting out of bed earlier!

Eventually, I sorted things out and found other times to get in my workout.

But, yes....exercise is VERY important to this journey (in my opinion)....not just physically but for the mental and emotional benefits as well.

For sure, don't fall into the mistake of thinking the band will do the work for you (I personally know a couple of banded people who think like that and have lost very minimal weight in the last year)......as everyone has said, it is only a tool; that's it.....you can work with it or against it.....you may have some ups and downs with it but hopefully we can all figure out how to work with it.

Good luck...you're all doing great....don't be too hard on yourselves!!!!

I forgot to mention....

For me, exercise is a MUST to lose weight....even with the band. That alone keeps me at it. Part of that is due to the PCOS; without the exercise, the PCOS makes it that much more difficult for me to lose weight (even with the band).

I haven't been able to work out in the last 12 days (but this is temporary and will sort itself out by next week) and despite my "good eating" I know I haven't lost weight in the last 2 weeks and I may even had gained 2 lbs. But that is okay...>I expected that, having not worked out....it will go away and things will start slowly dropping again as I re-commence my work outs.

The posts here are great. Bandiva, I try to get myself everyday to relax, do my best, and take one day at a time. Notice I said 'try'. We are all guilty of being too hard on ourselves. I think the goal is to 'just live each day the best you can', some days are good, some aren't. Cut yourself a break, give yourself positive reinforcement when you do something good, and try your best. I think the worst thing we can do to ourselves is beat ourselves up, that in turn just makes it worse. Let's face it, we could all die tommorow, so enjoy today!!!! The band WILL work, in the end, you'll get there. Let's just all enjoy the ride, and the fact we live in a era that has IT!!!

About your fill, when I went from .9 to 1.4 I felt that huge. When I went from 1.4 to 1.6 I felt that . When I went from 1.6 to 2.0 I felt nothing, I was really surprised. Then went I went from 2 to 2.5, that was big too, I'm good for a while. Every fill is different, and can act differently through-out the time you have it. Give it a few more weeks, then even though I know it's a pain, go for another fill!!