It's pretty amazing......day to day I don't feel like I'm on a diet.......day to day I eat whatever will give me optimum Protein and goes down easily..........day to day I feel like I never had surgery, then I realize how little I eat and how full I feel.......day to day I try not to think that I am not on a "diet", I concentrate on lifestyle change.........day to day my job keeps my mind quite occupied so that there's little time to fret over what to eat, feel bad about something I shouldn't have eaten, or wonder what I am going to have for dinner.........all of these days have added up to 22 weeks post-op, and at yesterday's weigh-in at the docs office I cried and cried when I realized that I had all of a sudden hit my first goal - to lose 50 pounds by the end of the summer - a whole month early!

My doc uses the old scale that has the slide bars, not the digital scales, and when he moved the big block, I swear all the blood ran out of my face, and the tears hit hard - I never expected such results in such a short time! Interestingly, I have had only 1 fill, and I am still at 2.5 cc's.

Having the surgery March 1st of this year is the single-most important thing I have ever done for myself - I am so proud of myself for taking this challenge and making it a success!

To anyone that feels they are too focused on the day, you probably are - my first couple of months were very stressful, I hit plateaus, I made bad food choices, I PB'd a lot (my friends say I used to puke in the best bathrooms in town) and I beat myself up constantly - one day I was whinning to my boss about all of it, and she said to me "Patty, it's a lifestyle change, that will take time to relearn everything you know about food". She has no idea how well that stuck with me, and it seems that her simple statement just clicked.......I quite focusing on everything that went into my mouth, got back into the groove of being a supervisor of coders in healthcare, kept logging everything I ate during the day, and relaxed.

I can honestly say that I am at ease with my new lifestyle of eating. I have learned how to eat at any restaurant that my family goes to, and not leave hungry AND not have to PB while at the restaurant - huge success right there!!

Long story short - I made it work for me, instead of me being a slave to it - the band I mean - it's my little secret now -- people ask me if I am on Atkins when I decline bread choices, sometimes I agree, sometimes I just smile!!

Good Luck to everyone!!

Patty G

298/248/200? who knows where this ends!!

:banana :Bunny :banana :Bunny

Patty, what a wonderful post! How great it is to hear a success story like yours...CONGRATULATIONS!!

YAY, BAND!!! :D :D

I also have one of those sliding-block scales at home, and I STILL sometimes automatically slide the big one up to 300. Then when I slide it down to 250 I get chills.

The day is coming when it only goes to 200. THAT will be something HUGE.

WOW Patty!

What an inspiring post.

You have done a fantastic job.

Those mini goals we set and accomplish are an awesome feeling inside arent they? I too have the old Dr. scale w/ the sliding weights so I know that feeling of when one of those big weights gets to be slided in the ooopsite direction... Thanks for sharing your story with us. You have definately inspired me!

Yeah! Patty! Wonderful job! Thanks for sharing your thoughts. We can certainly relate!

Hi Patty,

Thanks so much for sharing your story! As a new bandster, it really helps to see the progression of the change of habits. Sometimes it is easy to get caught up in all of the changes and lose track of the fact that there is all the time in the world to develop these new habits. I hope that I am able to work as well as you have with my new band over time!

Congratulations on your weight-loss and life change!

Darcy

Thanks for sharing your story. You've done a great job in losing weight and in changing your relationship with food. Way to go!

Nancy

Way to go Patty!! Very uplifting post!

I agree that focusing on 'day' is NOT what this is about.

I have been thinking about this the past few days. The reason why is because I remember fretting so much when I was at 12lbs lost and waiting and waiting, then somewhere I crossed 25 - I really don't even remember when. People kept asking me around 33. I really can't tell you where the 40's went and I don't remember hitting 50. It just dawned on me in June that I had lost 60lbs! How, I'll never know, but it sure seemed like a snail's pace to me and it was so subtle that I really never realized where it was going or even how. Today, it's 63 and I am just in awe! I'm looking at the scales, thinking 187. If I can hit 187 after all these years, I might have a chance at 185 or 180 or even less!! Amazing!

Just keep doing the next best thing! It works!

Leatha

That's so fantastic Patty! Congratulations and I wish you lots of continued success =)

Such a great post. I don't have any weight loss or size goals. My goals are all related to the way I think about food, so my biggest goal is to stop thinking about it. I refuse to weigh and measure or log in my foods because that's what made me lose and gain so much more in the past. My whole band experience is to try to make me "normal" in the eating department. Normal people occasionally skip meals, normal people occasionally eat too much, normal people get cravings for Dairy Queen and run out and get nutty fudgey things from time to time.

Your post gives me hope for working towards being normal and not focusing on food.

This is a great post Patty. You are truly an inspiration to me. I have struggled through a lot of the same things. PBing in restaurants was definitely one of them Congratulations on hitting one of your goals and a month early at that.

Congratulations... Your post was very inspirational. It was just what I needed to hear. I have to agree with Lisa about keeping a journal of my food intake. I just cant do that. I have experinced some depression but I think its just normal now that I am learning a new eating lifestyle. I was banded on 5-6-04 ( dont know how many weeks that is.) but I have lost 35lbs. Its kinda fun, my neighbor calls me skinny now. So does my sister. Thanks so much for your post... Janie

Originally posted by Janie Jackson

Its kinda fun, my neighbor calls me skinny now. So does my sister. Thanks so much for your post... Janie

Does that make you feel strange? I ask because my older brother (whom I love and admire very much) calls me Skinny when he sees me now. It feels strange in a way. He's called me 'dumplin' for so long. lol. Darn, it brings tears to my eyes just thinking about it.

Poor thing, he has really struggled with his weight this past few years too. He has a lethal ice cream addiction (it runs in the family, btw). But, I think now that he's suffered so much with his weight too that he really calls me Skinny to make me feel good. He's one of those guys who gives everyone a nickname and I never really liked Dumplin.. lol, but now I find it rather bittersweet that he would call me something else.

Ack.. I've got to find something else to do. Seems like it's gonna be one of those teary days.. .

A few days ago, I was feeling along my abdomen whiling standing.. I noticed it was very hard on both sides. Of course, I was worried that my band was doing something funky, like hardening. Then yesterday, I realized it was my bottom ribs! They've been covered up w/fat so long that I forgot what they felt like!

Leatha, your new stripper name is Dumplin... and you'll always be my lil Dumplin but you'll just be the skinny runt of the batch!

And that ice cream addiction you mentioned, nobody seems to understand mine. I can pass up Krispy Kremes, cake, Cookies, and candy at work without blinking, but bring in an ice cream cake and I want the two biggest pieces. I think mine stems from an abusive and dysfunctional childhood. My mother didn't buy food for kids, yet she left us alone all day. Sure, there were frozen chickens, brown rice, bulgar, and lentils (because's she's a weird fanatic) but we'd just stare at the frozen chicken and gag at the grains. She never ever brought chips, candy, goodies of any sort. But once every couple months she'd bring home 1/2 gallon of ice cream, because she enjoyed it. We'd gather around the cutting board and with a huge knife slice right through the container into four even pieces. I was youngests, so I'd get kneed and elbowed and end up with the smallest cardboard, then we'd all run to our separate corners and eat the only treat we ever knew.

I grew up thinking one pint was a regular serving. Therefore, a double dip would be 2 pints. Last night I was at my skinny friends house, and she sat on the couch eating from the half gallon container in front of the TV. I've seen this done on TV, where they have some bites then put it back in the freezer. So I took the container and had a few bites (but I was really scooping the spoon full.) But that "normal" moment with my "normal" friend brings tears to my eyes now, because it was all so damn normal.

Normal rules, doesn't it?

lol. thanks.. i think? lol.

See more about dysfunction and ice cream in the new thread..