I can’t believe that October 24, 2013 will be my fifth bandiversary. In June, 2008 my best friend gave me a beautiful journal. My first posting? I was going to start a new diet! I wrote:

· Exercise daily

· No white stuff

· No bread (I guess I meant no wheat bread)

· No Alcohol

· Write my food down daily

· Keep track of points

· Drink 8 glasses of Water daily

Obviously I couldn’t do it because the next posting in my journal was on October 20, 2008 when I began my liquid diet in preparation for surgery. Some of the things I worried about then? Giving up control! Little did I realize that that band was going to help GIVE me control. I wondered if a year later would I be thin, or would I be satisfied? A year later I was in Onderland! Not only that, I had measured myself before and after and I’d lost over a yard! Satisfied? Oh, yes!

In January, 2010 I started exercising. I went to boot camp at 5:30 a.m. five days a week. I don’t know what I was thinking when I signed up, but I loved boot camp! And it really helped change my body and got me losing again. By the end of that year I was 9 pounds from goal (the goal my doctor had set).

Then, I stalled. But I wasn’t unhappy because I could now shop in regular stores. Most of all, I wasn’t consumed in my mind by thoughts of weight loss and self loathing. I thought that I looked like a “regular” person. It’s true that I wasn’t as thin as I wanted to be, but I certainly wasn’t fat anymore!

That lasted until this year and, for some unknown reason, I’ve lost an additional 10 pounds. It just came off. The other day my husband actually said to me, “Are you still losing weight? I think you’re getting too skinny!” Never in my life did I think I’d ever hear that again.

So thank you God, Dr. Davtyan, all of you on LapBandTalk who supported me in this journey. A special thank you to my sister who was banded two months after me and has her own success story.

Congratulations! It's always so nice to hear success stories and see that they started at the same place us newbies are now. It's reassuring to see you had the same questions and a lot of the same fears and are now standing where we hope to be.

Congratulations on five years & thank you for sharing your story. You (& your sister) look fabulous. It is great to hear from seasonal bandsters like yourself!

What a great story and wonderful pictures. Congrats. I especially admire the normal part. I used those same words. That was my goal

Whatever "normal" is to each of us. I'm also a long term bandster and very happy!

So happy to hear positive! Congrats

Congrats!!! Thanks for sharing your story.

Congrats on your great success! Always encouraging to hear veteran bandsters on here doing so well.

I can’t believe that October 24, 2013 will be my fifth bandiversary. In June, 2008 my best friend gave me a beautiful journal. My first posting? I was going to start a new diet! I wrote:

· Exercise daily

· No white stuff

· No bread (I guess I meant no wheat bread)

· No Alcohol

· Write my food down daily

· Keep track of points

· Drink 8 glasses of Water daily

Obviously I couldn’t do it because the next posting in my journal was on October 20, 2008 when I began my liquid diet in preparation for surgery. Some of the things I worried about then? Giving up control! Little did I realize that that band was going to help GIVE me control. I wondered if a year later would I be thin, or would I be satisfied? A year later I was in Onderland! Not only that, I had measured myself before and after and I’d lost over a yard! Satisfied? Oh, yes!

In January, 2010 I started exercising. I went to boot camp at 5:30 a.m. five days a week. I don’t know what I was thinking when I signed up, but I loved boot camp! And it really helped change my body and got me losing again. By the end of that year I was 9 pounds from goal (the goal my doctor had set).

Then, I stalled. But I wasn’t unhappy because I could now shop in regular stores. Most of all, I wasn’t consumed in my mind by thoughts of weight loss and self loathing. I thought that I looked like a “regular” person. It’s true that I wasn’t as thin as I wanted to be, but I certainly wasn’t fat anymore!

That lasted until this year and, for some unknown reason, I’ve lost an additional 10 pounds. It just came off. The other day my husband actually said to me, “Are you still losing weight? I think you’re getting too skinny!” Never in my life did I think I’d ever hear that again.

So thank you God, Dr. Davtyan, all of you on LapBandTalk who supported me in this journey. A special thank you to my sister who was banded two months after me and has her own success story.

Congrats girl!

Beautiful post -- thank you so much for sharing! It's so inspiring to see some one recapturing their health and living their life fully with the help of the band. I am so looking forward to this. Happy Bandiversary!