Holy crap. I just ate 8 oatmeal cookies!! I'm completely out of control on the carb cravings.

Ignore this post--I'm just airing out my embarrassing secret so that tomorrow it will face me and perhaps, just perhaps, I'll be able to get this monster back in the closet.

That is all. Thank you.

lmao........

I completely understand!

Poor Alex! I understand completely also! I had company over the weekend and I completely abandoned all reason where food is concerned. Then, today I was going to do so good but wound up not having a single bite of food until 6pm when I got home and of course the fastest thing was the worst.

It's okay. I'll get it together when everything slows down. We can do it!!!

Hey Alex... I have been fighting a craving for a snickers bar for days... lemme tell ya... if there was a bag o cookies here... they would be snuggly tucked into my stomach! Hmmmm... do you have any left???? *looking in Alex's cabinet with an intent craving expression on my face*

I haven't "been" here in ages, and it's amazing - whatever I'm going through, I log on here, and hey presto, someone else is going through it too.... I've gone ludicrously off track, on a total carb binge, for the past fortnight and am so depressed about it.... I normally have a few crazy carb days just before my period, but then am fine, and back on the road a couple of days later - but that was a whole two weeks away - and my one year bandiversary is looming ominously....I'm feeling like a big giant failure and have been too low to come to Lapband talk to get some support.

Thanks Alex for releasing your "embarrassing secret" - I hope you get back on track - has anyone any motivational tips? It's so hard to keep going on this journey, when it's gonna take so damn long! I have just over one lousy third of my excess weight off and it seems like forever already!

Bright, I was banded in October 2003 also! Its hard to believe a year is almost here. I am no where near my goal, I was expecting to lose 100 lbs by now, but have not. Oh well. What I HAVE lost is gone for good. I just can't fight those cravings these days!

It's so hard to keep going on this journey, when it's gonna take so damn long!

Bright, I so hear you on this. That's why I think we have to cut ourselves some slack when we get off track like this.

My "journey" is PERMANENT, for the rest of my life, if I don't want the second half to be like the first half was. So a backslide of two or three weeks in no way endangers the success of the project. I can't keep a "goal" in mind because that sets me up for a constant feeling of falling short, not making it, the distance left to go. These past two weeks I've been amazed just to see my reflection and see how much smaller it is! My friend who hasn't seen me in a year was so thrilled to see how I looked, and she reminded me that this is a HUGE improvement over me a year ago. So I gained 7 lbs on vacation, so what? It's already coming back off and I had a great time.

As for motivational tips, I know it's helped me a lot just to come here and post what I'm going through. I know that typing it out forces me to face it--and if I'm not willing to do that then I'm not willing, for whatever reason, to change what's getting me off track. So my "tip" is to come here and force myself to own up to the facts of what I'm doing that I don't want to be doing.

I'll let you know if it's working. Being back at work gives me the structure I need to plan my eating, but it's been a crazy week with DH at home and the girls getting ready for a new school year. Within a week things will have settled back into a routine, and I'll be doing the same.

You will too.

It's so hard to keep going on this journey, when it's gonna take so damn long!

DIETING MENTALITY!!! ALERT, ALERT!! WARNING, WILL ROBINSON!!! lol

This "journey" is your LIFE - not a destination! Losing weight is something that happens along the way - there is no "finish line". This is just one of the many challenges living our lives bring to the table, so to speak... So be glad that your journey is long! A long, happy life is a wonderful blessing.

Yuummmmm.... oatmeal Cookies....

The carb days come and go for most of us, I think. Now that I am sans band I feel it is doubly important for me to not get my panties in a bunch over my dips and rises - I know it would be waaaay too easy to start feeling hysterical, which would drive me to eat even more, even less healthily.

I DO feel the need to be ever more vigilant, but NOT dieting - which is a fine line to walk, particularly for someone who has only "recently" gotten off the dieting wagon - three years of non-dieting stacked against 31 years of dieting seems "recent"... lol

I worried less about the dips and rises while banded, because I knew I couldn't get too far off track - I was somewhat complacent in that regard. I kind of miss that complacent feeling, that relaxed, sure feeling, that my "phases" would not adversely affect me "in the end".

At the same time, I cling to that memory of complacency, reminding myself that I will always have phases where carbs call my name, followed by more sane periods where I am deaf to their calls. I promise myself that as long as I don't panic, I can take the phases in stride, just like when I was banded. Knowing that nothing is off limits, and reminding myself that "health" is the goal, not weightloss, really does help me not go off the deep end emotionally when I'm scarfing down pizza.

I got my pizza fix, I don't feel guilty, I feel no need to order in a large deep dish sausage pizza for one... lol I'm good!

So, this is a long, round about way of saying...

1. Carb cravings come and go.

2. It is my belief that the cravings will "go" sooner and for a longer period of time if you satisfy them WITHOUT guilt, without thoughts of "making up for" it later.

3. Genuine focus on HEALTH (NOT weight) seems to keep my panic at bay when I push towards the rise back to the "high road" of more nutritious foods. No panic = no dieting = peace with food = stable weight.

I no longer have the word "shouldn't" in my vocabulary when it comes to food. Instead I ask myself, "How healthy have you been eating lately? Is this something you really want to eat right now? Why?" Sometimes that's enough to get me to make a healthier choice, sometimes not, but at least I was acknowledging any feelings that might be driving my cravings, and giving myself an opportunity to address THEM first, in a non-food way.

Let the carb rollercoaster begin!! lol

I never get tired of saying this. Donali, you're my hero.

How ya doin'?

never get tired of saying this. Donali, you're my hero.

*blush*

Uh, I think "scarfing down pizza" basically says it all at the moment... lol

Actually four pieces is a vast improvement over past pizza binges, so I'm not really complaining...

I'm good!! Still within 10 pounds of my lowest low, touched for one day weeks after my unbanding.

Oh where, oh where can onederland be???

When BF gets here he's promised to walk my butt off. I'm taking that promise literally. In the meantime, I'm being very butch and spending a lot of time with my power tools. I've installed a new door, a new metal security screen door, vented the dryer to the outside (instead of under the trailer, which apparently is a big no-no, but hey! That's how it was when I bought the place!), building shelves to display BF's fossils, shells and petrified wood, building shelves for our combined 200+ videos, installing window air conditioners, cleaning pond filters and relining the ponds, and - the piece de resistance - enclosing my porch. Yes, by myself. In fact, my boss called me today and insisted that I take tomorrow and Friday off to work on these innumerable projects. He said he didn't want any phone calls from BF when he arrives, complaining about the disaster area he just moved into!! lol

So, wish me luck!!!

Ditto!! Thanks Donali

Its so nice to come on this board and feel "I'm not the only one"

Even though I haven't lost any weight in 3 months, I haven't gained any either. For the first time in my life I'm NOT yo-yoing.

FYI I just made an appointment for a fill next week. It's been since last January and I can eat almost anything....Some of you may remember on my last fill the doc could'nt get any saline out (possible link) so this time we're going to try a stand up fill. If we can't get any saline out, then it's off to Flouro. It's time for a check.

HELLO ALL. I FINALLY GOT APPOVED FOR MY LAP BAND TODAY. MY QUESTION IS...HOW LONG WILL I BE IN PAIN AFTER I AM FINISHED WITH THE SURGERY. I HAVE A SIT DOWN JOB AND I WAS WONDERING WILL I BE ABLE TO GO BACK TO WORK WITHIN 3 DAYS?

Here's my embarrassing secret.... I have probably gained about 10 pounds since I decided to get the band!!! It's like a binge that I can't stop and I still have over a month to go!

Don't feel bad Alex ..I'm feeling you here. I have been fighting the chocolate cravings that go along with my monthly cylce the few days before it starts > I've wanted sweets all day I have yet though to give into temptation but the night is still young

Originally posted by blossom

Here's my embarrassing secret.... I have probably gained about 10 pounds since I decided to get the band!!! It's like a binge that I can't stop and I still have over a month to go!

Don't be too hard on yourself, Blossom. I think a lot of us give big bon voyage parties to food. On my last pre-band binge I got such an intense chocolate-induced headache that I actually looked forward to eating more healthily. Just remember, you WILL be able to eat almost all your favorites after you're banded. And the weight you've gained recently will come off.

Blossom, don't worry, we've all been there. My "last supper" added 7 lbs. It was disconcerting since I really thought I had a handle on my eating--I'd lost 30 lbs in the previous 8 months--but my subconscious had other ideas. It just proved to me how big the disconnect is between what I *should* eat and what I *want* to eat.

I just had Chinese food for dinner, one of my all-time favorites and always a gorge-fest in the past. Well, I ate one eggroll and half of my small tofu Szechan style, and I'm as full as if I ate Thanksgiving dinner. It's NOT a good feeling--once again, I ate too fast and outpaced what my body can hold. AARGH!!! But, and here's the big thing, this amount is a mere FRACTION of what I would have eaten before. Now this much makes my stomach and chest hurt, and hopefully the next time I will stop before this point.

I love my band. Sometimes it's hard to tell, considering the way I try to ignore it, but I do.