They have added a forum for us - let's post here... So we can share with the new people....

HI LADIES ITS NOV.3 AND I GOT BANDED TODAY:smile: IM A CALIFORNIA BANSTER FROM CARSON CA. AND THE SURGERY WENT WELL. I HAVE ALITTLE PAIN AT THE PORT SITE AND IM DRINKING Water A LITTLE AT A TIME. I TOOK MY FIRST WALK TODAY AND AM NOW ON THE JOURNEY:thumbup: IM ALSO GLAD TO HAVE A SITE WITH LADIES MY AGE 57 TO SHARE STORIES AND GIVE HELP. MY WEIGHT 220. GOD BLESS

Congrats LoseLose!!! Welcome !!!

I was 52 when banded lost 114 lbs - feel 10 yrs younger and have 100% more energy...

I'm in Cali too - Indio -

Bunny7, I just loved your upbeat post. I am 51 and a high school counselor. My children are grown and my husband and I will Celebrate our 30th year in a couple of weeks. (seems like we have a lot in common) I think I will cut and paste your response and when I start to revert back to the past I will pull it up;) I love your analogy of the seasons too! Wishing you the best!

Thanks Sue - glad you enjoyed it. I'll probably need to do the same when I forget!

Congratulations on your 30th wedding anniversary - hope you two are going to do something marvellous together - different, loads of fun and memorable.

I see you've lost 9lbs - we work in metric here and I'm about the same weightloss down but trying hard to be a bit more disciplined this week with drinking Water and getting in enough veg. Had my first 4ml fill 10 days ago and still not feeling the hoped for restriction but have learnt from this forum that in many cases, it trial and error. Hope the counselling went well today - you're doing a really wonderful thing for these kids.:eek:

Congrats LoseLose!!! Welcome !!!

I was 52 when banded lost 114 lbs - feel 10 yrs younger and have 100% more energy...

I'm in Cali too - Indio -

Lovely having you with us on our journey and fantastic that you took the plunge and did it. We're all rooting for you:youcandothis:

Kll724, thanks for the support. I hope in a year I will reach my goal weight too. Since I work in a high school, most of my peers are much younger. I love this because they keep me feeling young, but sometimes it's just nice to sit back with someone my own age and appreciate the world. My eyes have seen tragedy and miracles. I have earned my laugh lines. My hands have held babies and dying parents. Love has always held me tight and let me go. Hey I'm way too serious....think I'll take a nap;)

Lovely having you with us on our journey and fantastic that you took the plunge and did it. We're all rooting for you:youcandothis:

Bunny - LOL - I started this new thread for 50+ on 1/7/08 :0) - I've been on lbt since 5/07

I've been banded since 7/07 - got to goal 7/08 and have maintained my weight loss for 2 yrs now...

Thanks for the support though... ;0)

Bunny - LOL - I started this new thread for 50+ on 1/7/08 :0) - I've been on lbt since 5/07

I've been banded since 7/07 - got to goal 7/08 and have maintained my weight loss for 2 yrs now...

Thanks for the support though... ;0)

Sorry... I know you;ve been around for a while and I posted to the wrong person!!! You responded to "Lose, lose, lose" and me being somewhat technologically challenged, posted it to you! :frown:

Just want to add anyway, that you've been a huge encouragement to so many including me. Thank you - it's a great thread!

Sorry... I know you;ve been around for a while and I posted to the wrong person!!! You responded to "Lose, lose, lose" and me being somewhat technologically challenged, posted it to you! :frown:

Just want to add anyway, that you've been a huge encouragement to so many including me. Thank you - it's a great thread!

Awe thanks - It feels so good to be in control of the food - it's mostly mental - you just gotta change your mindset and understand that you can't eat like you use to - that a little hunger isn't going to kill you ... Our bands are great tools - but truly the work is up to us..

The thread doesn't get the responses like it use to -- Somedays - life gets in the way of posting.. I'm busy at work - gym and home life.. But try and ck in when I can..

Awe thanks - It feels so good to be in control of the food - it's mostly mental - you just gotta change your mindset and understand that you can't eat like you use to - that a little hunger isn't going to kill you ... Our bands are great tools - but truly the work is up to us..

The thread doesn't get the responses like it use to -- Somedays - life gets in the way of posting.. I'm busy at work - gym and home life.. But try and ck in when I can..

Indio, you truly are an inspiration. Even though I have met goal, I have found that matenance is difficult. Truly it is mind over matter. But my mind sometimes wants to eat....JUNK!!! I am working on that problem, too. Karen(kll724)...

I, too, have been on here before but for a while no one was posting hardly. So I'm glad to see people helping each other again. I'm in the maintenance stage. Feeling better and doing better than in years.

Cheri

Glad to see the 50 and over group. Just had my surgery on 10/25. Started puree food today. I've been on liquids for the past 3 weeks. Looking forward to being able to taste real food again. :eek:

Indio, you truly are an inspiration. Even though I have met goal, I have found that matenance is difficult. Truly it is mind over matter. But my mind sometimes wants to eat....JUNK!!! I am working on that problem, too. Karen(kll724)...

Karen - Just remember you can never go back to eating our normal - which was junk all the time.. I take one day a week or maybe every 2 weeks - depending on my weight - and have treats - something that I don't consider healthy - sugar usually.. and I have kept up on exercise - it's something I will do the rest of my life... I feel to good to blow it.. Last night was my treat - fried tacos - I don't eat fried foods - so that was my treat for the week ;0)..

Glad to see the 50 and over group. Just had my surgery on 10/25. Started puree food today. I've been on liquids for the past 3 weeks. Looking forward to being able to taste real food again. :eek:

Patty 3 weeks liquid ugh!!! thats long - I was lucky 10 days each phase - yep puree will be devine !!!

Hi girls

I'm feeling a bit down at the moment - almost 8 weeks post op, had my first fill and just don't feel any difference in terms of how much I can eat. (I know that this takes time and requires a few fills) I often read the statement on this forum about the band being a TOOL.

I'd really like clarity on that as I'm just in the dark about what to expect. I've had a couple of days of undisciplined eating moment - not over the top but worrying for me and I so wish I could have sensed that STOP button internally - if that's what the band does?? Otherwise, I'm going to have to rely totally on self control and visual estimates of how much is enough and that depresses me as that was the form of control I've used for 20 years on WL and failed!!!

As one of the girls on the forum wrote: "If I didn't have the scars on my stomach, I would start to think the op had never been done!"

Hoping to get some encouragement and information from those of you who are ahead of me. MAIN QUESTION: How does this tool work when it's working properly????? What can I expect if I went over the half cup measurement per food serve?

Thanks so much to you all. I'm so grateful there is this site for me to post to. Hope you new banders are just flying so welcome to our 50s link. Des

You are in Bandster Hell right now. It is the period between surgery and when you have enough fills. When you have restriction, you will probably get a "burp" when you have eaten enough. Do n't try and eat anymore after that, if I do I get wild hiccups! Anyway, the very best thing is that after you eat you will not be hungry again for at least 4 hours - that is the real magic of the band. Eat the right foods, meat and a little veg or starch and you will not be able to overeat. Eat the wrong foods - slider foods - and you will. Don't be too hard on yourself at first - especially during bandster hell - it is a learning process. You will not be perfect. Be good to yourself and feel confident that this will work for you and it will. I know that when you go through the whole long tedious process of getting surgery you want it to work right away. But your body has to heal and you have to build up with the fills. It took me 4 fills to get restriction, some people it takes fewer, some more. Some people never get a fill at all and it works for them. I do know that even before I had a fill, I was not able or interested in eating as much as I did prior surgery. So, don't feel down about it, even without restriction you can take this time to really pay attention to your body, why you are eating (head hunger is a particular enemy of mine) and know that eventually the band will kick in and work its magic!

Thanks so much for the encouragement - I'm looking forward to that day!!!! :smile2:

Bunny

Here's my 2 cents on our bands being only a tool..

Even when you get to your sweet spot you will be able to eat certain foods (candy - liquid calories(shakes juice alcohol) - cookies - chips - ice cream in unlimited quantities..

Our bands will never be able to make our food choices - that's up to us.. Also our new full is a diff kind of full - it doesn't mean you are satisfied..

I can eat my dinner be physically full - but my body craves more food - I want the taste - My brains says you ate 4 oz of meat and 1/2 cup of veggie - that's not a lot of food.. - But if I really think about my stomach I am full - but it doesn't mean satisfied.

ALWAYS eat your protein 1st (meat chick fish) then - sit and contemplate your stomach does it feel full - do you feel the meat in your pouch - are your full orl just mentally hungry. If you are still hungry - move to veggies - to me veggies are free (low calories) - till you get to your sweet spot - eat extra veggies if you are still hungry and for me I only allowed starches (rice/tato/pasta) at dinner for the most part - I sorta followed the old fashion WW way of eating (exchanges)

It's up to you to change your eating habits - it's up to you to eat healthy foods (lower fat, less carbs, less sugar)

Also - I am a big advocate of exercise - for the 1st 8 months I walked 4-6 days a week on a treadmill - then I move to weight training 2 x a week and treadmill 2 x a week..

You do have to rely on self control - You have to understand that you are a food addict - you have to learn how to deal w/your emotions in diff ways - instead of stuffing they away with food..

I don't keep candy in the house - I don't keep trigger foods in my house - if you were an alcoholic would you keep a bottle of booze on the kitchen counter.. We are no different.. Except our drug of choice is food..

Bordom is a big food trigger for me - so I will get up get on the computer come here - or play farming on FB - go clean out a drawer - wash my face - just something other than eating..

I also am a firm believer in keep a food diary - I gave myself a calorie budget 800-1200 during my weight loss phase - and I always budgeted those calories to make sure I had something to eat when those night time muchies hit.. I'm a nite eating - I saved my calories for evenings - ate sf choc pudding - sf fudgesicles - 100 cal snack pack popcorn..

If after 2 weeks you don't feel your fill - call the doc an make another appointment.

But till you get to that sweet spot and even after - your food choices are up to you.. Your band isn't going to lose the weight for you - You are the one who has to do the work.

I say that I did 75% of that work by making healthy food choices and exercising and the band did 25% of the work by providing restriction.

Like my signature say - Healthy Eating + Exercise + Band = Success (in that order)

Also - I have always eaten more than 1/2 cup of food - I normally eat 1 to 1.5 per meal..

They haven't invented a band for our heads just yet

The band doesn't cure our mental issues w/food and that's where the majority of our issues lie - Being a little hungry isn't going to kill us - we know where our next meal is coming from next meal - and we can wait out those hungry pangs..