I was banded on 1/16/14 and have lost 42 lbs...and I was so upset with myself that it wasn't more...but then just the other day 6/17/14 I finally learned something that made me realize ignorance can really be a hiccup in this WL Journey. I have read on here so many folks that didn't get much of an education about what they were getting into and although I thought I was on the right track before/after my surgery...I learned there is still so much to learn. We all know our journey's are so individualized and that not everyone will be the same as everyone else. So my first lesson was to realize...that I wasn't going to lose weight the same way and Jane or John Doe was going to lose their weight...so I needed to get that out of my head fast (but it took me 5 months to realize that)! Secondly, I need to get away from those scales at home and trust the ones when I go to the fill clinic. Thirdly, that although sometimes we judge ourselves harshly...we need to be prepared to meet those consequences.

I am doing all the right things...I am eating right portions, eating slowly-chewing and exercising...however, it all is about that band!!! It helps us to manage weight lose, but we have to be at the Green Zone in order for it to work correctly. So for the last few months...I have been doing the right things expecting a BIG CHANGE to occur and it hasn't and therefore gotten totally off track and out of sight as to what this is all about!!! The band is merely an instrument that assists us in our weight loss...but until we get to the GREEN zone, we still need to be the ones in control of our day to day weight loss goals...that means maybe we call it a diet until then...monitor our eating habits and make adjustments to at least lose a little at each time we go in for our fills-when we reach our Green Zone we will start losing accordingly.

I got my fill Tuesday and learned first of all I wasn't at where I thought I was with the cc's, but I got to talk with an Educator (who is also a Lap-Band patient-8 yrs) and told me to stop beating myself up and move forward. Everyone's weight loss is different from everyone else's, but I was doing great...not everyone averages 8 lbs a month (even though that is not what I've lost between fills-only average of my lose by the months since I've been banded). I will get to where I need to be, but I really worry about folks on here that don't get to speak to Educators or Nutritionist and seem to run into those hiccups along the way.

So if I have any advice to give to those that are newbies (by the way-she told me I'm still a Newbie-LOL) find someone you can talk with...actually have they show you what portion sizes are, talk to them about exercises that your body will allow you to do at each step of your progress and be proud of what you have achieved so far. We all are going to experience hiccup in our WL Journey...it just helps to know there are folks out here willing to take the time to set us straight and pick us up when we fall down.

Thanks all of you who have posted positive things on this posts and those of you who have posted the negatives ones as well-for they have made me learn that this journey is a lifetime one and it took me years to get where I am now and will take me a while to get to where I want to be!!! You all are my blessings...Thank You for scaring those hiccups away!!!

Well said Mikee. I read comments here nearly every day from bandsters who haven't been back to their surgeon or had a consult with a "Bariatric" nutritionist. So many seem to be winging it and that just won't fly with the band. Very few may luck out and have just the right amount of restriction and happen to love healthy, nutritious, unprocessed foods and find success with the band. But most of us are hard wired to eat the bad stuff.

Success with the band is an integration of just the right restriction for each of us, knowledge of what constitutes healthy foods that stimulate satiety, Great aftercare, satiety signal awareness, eating and chewing etiquette, nutrition knowledge(carbs, calories, slider foods, liquids), and as someone said yesterday, the willingness to be a different person(foodwise) than before surgery.

That's a lot for a newbie or pre-surg patient to absorb till months after surgery.

tmf

What a great post! All so true. If any one had told me last year I would be able to lose fifty pounds in seven months I would have been over the moon, but now that I'm there I wish it would have been more? That's crazy thinking. When I pull back to get a better perspective on this I realize I am glad for the rate at which I'm losing. A) it's miraculous, really, and it's given me a chance to absorb all the lifestyle changes, up the exercise and learn to chew properly, have small portions, etc., C) any faster would be uncomfortable for me socially, and D) this is a much healthier way for me to lose and I know that. It's funny how our brains work. I'm in such small pants I can't believe it -- was an 18 then 16 then 14 then 12 in the exact same brand of jeans and now I'm feeling those getting big on me. When the scale doesn't move as fast as we want we have to realize our whole bodies/selves are renewing and reshaping -- including the brain. Thanks for a great reminder to be proud and happy with the process, not beating down the door for more, more, more all the time. That was then, this is now.

thanks TMF and Bandista you both are very near and dear to me...your words mean alot!!!

Cool testimony.

Good Post Mikee57 !

And TMF....WOW! This pretty much sums it ALL up. "Success with the band is an integration of just the right restriction for each of us, knowledge of what constitutes healthy foods that stimulate satiety, Great aftercare, satiety signal awareness, eating and chewing etiquette, nutrition knowledge(carbs, calories, slider foods, liquids), and as someone said yesterday, the willingness to be a different person(foodwise) than before surgery."

ALL YOU GUYS/LADIES ARE AWESOME...THANKS FOR YOUR RESPONSES!!! HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!