I have now completed almost 10 months with the Lapband and I am very excited about the results. When I started in May 2013 I weighed 360 pounds and I could feel myself slowly dying. My life consisted of my office chair and my recliner chair at home. Otherwise I did very little. Now I weigh 220 pounds and am 20 pounds away from my goal. I really can't believe it has gone so well. I have only 2.5cc in my band and I have only had two PB incidents since I started (both were my fault-eating way to fast). I can eat pretty much anything I want (in a lot less quantities) and really the only thing I have had to give up was carbonated beverages.

I am now approaching what I consider the most critical stage and that is weight maintenance which has always been the most difficult thing for me. I don't ever get really hungry anymore and the biggest challenge/temptation for me is late night Snacks. I can go all day long till 9pm and have no cravings, but when I sit down to watch TV after that the head hunger returns. I have tried to keep my calorie input a bit lower in the day so that I do not go over when I snack. I think I may have to change what type of foods I snack on to find something more filling. Any suggestions?

For those of you beginning on your journey I am proof it can be done. I simply followed my doctors rules as strictly as possible, I try to exercise a half hour to an hour a day. You need to be patient as it took most of us a lot longer to gain the weight than it does to lose it. The three most important things are to 1) Eat slowly and chew your food well, 2) Track every calorie (thank god for My Fitness Pal), and 3) Exercise everyday for at least a half hour. If you have a bad day, don't beat yourself up, just start back the next day. We all slip a little, just don't make it an excuse to quit or fail.

This message board has been extremely helpful to me. I have tried to focus on the positive messages that I have read, and try to use the negative ones as things to be careful about. Thank all of you for your help.

Great job!!! You look amazing! Very inspiring!

Wow ! Congratulations on your success ! You look amazing !!! I have 20 lbs to go to reach my goal of 140, so im glad to see great stories like yours. I too have issues at night with snacking. I eat well during the day, but really crave sweet and/or crunchy snacks in the late afternoon and evening. You asked for suggestions on snacks, maybe try pb on celery, a frozen sf pudding, a carmel flavored rice cake ( delish ! ) , banana slices drizzled with chocolate, then frozen, etc. Hope this helps! Good luck !

IMPRESSIVE!

Great job on your success!

Kudos!!!!

Whoa. I must say there are a lot of impressive losses on this board, but I think you get the prize for most weight lost in shortest amount of time.

Well done, that's a lot of hard and dedicated work, day in and day out.

Keep motivating us, and I wish you continued success with your maintenance.

Your post really is inspirational!

awesome job!!! A lot of people here have done great...congrats to you all!!

I will be there some day!! hahah

late night Snacks...ughhh.. how about air popped popcorn? or take plain no fat greek yogurt and mix ranch dressing (dry mix) ...dip carrots or celery in that.