It's 5:30am....9 degrees out with wind gusts of 20-30mph putting the wind chill way down below zero....

Snowed over night and the plow just went down the street....

Sitting here on my second cup of coffee....

The gym opens at 6am, and in spite of everything I will be there when they open (or shortly thereafter)

THERE ARE NO EXCUSES! I could easily go back to my warm bed with my wife and sleep in....put this off to another day...perhaps another day after that, then another day after that...NO! At my age I need to take advantage of every opportunity!

The more you do, the better you get, and bigger are the rewards....if I don't go, I will feel like crap all day long...and probably punish myself.

Yes, I am 100% successful with my weight loss...finished this journey (if you like that term, I don't) years ago....however I do not think I would have gotten this far from surgery alone...it was the exercise that really made it complete...no sagging skin, flabby arms, etc...all tight!

Exercise also covers a multitude of sins....it's probably the reason I can do some of the things dieters would never dream of doing....

Dr.'s have been preaching it forever...diet and exercise...diet and exercise....

I don't like the "D" word, counting calories, etc...that's all behind me...to me it's all part of the new, permanent lifestyle of healthy eating, staying active, enjoying the good things in life, (I'm not into self punishment), but never over indulging...all things in moderation.

I cannot stress enough how fortunate and pleased I am to have had this surgery...otherwise I would have been dead by now...literally! My Dr's informed me so in direct terms I was a walking time bomb.

And lets not ever forget...,behind it all the band is there quietly controlling my appetite, hunger and cravings...easy way out?

WHY SHOULD I CARE OR FEEL GUILTY!!!

Give me a break.....It just doesn't get any better than this!

Some people give up too easily at the first sign of this or that....believe me...this DOES WORK! Don't let negative people - whiners, tell you otherwise....

Many, just about all, successful lap banders move on and leave this site...believe me, it is hard to stay with all the negativity...

But that is the sole reason I stick around...somebody has to stand up to it and call it out for what it is....whether newbies want to believe it or not...

Edited February 15, 201511 yr by B-52

I so appreciate your frankness and positive attitude. I get weary at times reading all the band bashing posts and people whining about their disenchantment with the band. I know there are legitimate problems sometimes and some are not necessarily the persons fault but I know form my experience, If I don't do what I am supposed to do, I will have problems. My hardest thing to learn has been listening to the signals, eating slower, chewing more and not eating things that do not agree with my band. I am not as dedicated to exercise but I am more active than I was 2 years ago. The band has literally heped me get healthier get off of all meds for diabetes blood pressure and reduced my cholesterol . AS for the easy way out well, I've certainly found out that it's not easy but better than anything I have done in the past .

This was a great upbeat post to read first thing in the morning!

I would never consider the band "the easy way out ", ( my a $$!!!), to me I took an opportunity to achieve a healthy body that I couldn't get with traditional "methods." If those "traditional" methods ( diet and exercise) worked for everybody, I figured WLS wouldn't of been invented in the 1st place !! Usually WLS is a last resort, but it takes just as much hard work and commitment to get a stronger, healthier body . We STILL have to watch what we eat, exercise and make good choices EVERY day or pay the consequences. Im just eternaly grateful that WLS existed for me, and that the Hunger Monster is gone . Thanks for the reminder to go exercise this morning, I was all set to internally complain "I don't have time !". Ummm , yes I do, I can MAKE time !!! Thanks !!!!

Thanks for this, B-52. I have been a little lame in the exercises department and I need to GET BACK. I love it when I am "worked out." I need that. For pain management, for feeling flabby, etc. The heck with weight loss (love that, too), I need exercise for every reason. Have had a difficult month -- bloody cold came back, blah, blah, blah, can't walk or even BE outside and last spring, summer, fall I really owned a particular four-mile fast walk around a gorgeous lake. Meanwhile our basement with treadmill, etc. is cold (that is actually good, just got to get my lazy you know what in motion for ten minutes and temp is perfect). Need to get my act together. Exercise partner should be able to get here tomorrow (we are BURIED in snow) and I'm going to work on motivation whether that is new music, etc. Miss my working out. Thank you.