Hey everyone! I hope you guys don't mind that I've started a new thread. I've been talking to Terri from Dr. B's office, and she wants to email all of Dr. Bagnato's patients about this website and this support chat that all of us Bagnato Bandsters have going on. She was really impressed by how we've been supporting each other and wants all of Dr. B's patients to be able to come here and get support.

I wanted the title of the thread to be clear and make sure everyone who was banded by Dr. Bagnato knows that they are welcome here, even if they don't live in Albany.

For anyone who is interested, we have formed a support group and have decided to meet once a month.

Our first group meeting will be Feb. 7th at Ruby Tuesday in Tifton, Ga at 6:00 pm. This meeting is basically just a "get to know each other" meeting. I hope to see all of you there!

Hey onder woman!! How are you???

Yeah, I don't get on here NEAR as much as I used to, but I still check in quite frequently. I used to be pretty darn addicted, lol.

Who's going to the monthly support group meeting next Thursday??

I don't know if I'm going to make it. My parents are coming to town and we (DH and I) are going to Memphis the following morning. I may bring my mom with me. She doesn't really undertand "the band" and it may help her understand what I'm going through...well see though. Still not sure - isn't it 6:00 to 7:00? or 7:00 to 8:00? I can't remember.

It starts at 7:00. I'm not sure if I'm going to make it either. We'll see...

I wish I could go, but between gas and the sheer distance of it, I know I won't make it.

Do keep me posted on how it goes though.

Hey Georgia! I'm good, but had a bad eating day - gave in to banana nut bread at lunch, said I would be super good at supper, but I wasn't, then had an overwhelming TOM chocolate craving. Logged my food, tho, and I am about 688 cals over for the day. Ack! And now I feel sick (chocolate).

I will probably go to the meeting, even tho I should work late every night next week. I was really looking forward to meeting you and L2L. Ah, well, another time........

Edited October 10, 200817 yr by oneder_woman
because I grossly underestimated how far over my cals I had gone

Hey Georgia! I'm good, but had a bad eating day - gave in to banana nut bread at lunch, said I would be super good at supper, but I wasn't, then had an overwhelming TOM chocolate craving. Logged my food, tho, and I am about 688 cals over for the day. Ack! And now I feel sick (chocolate).

I will probably go to the meeting, even tho I should work late every night next week. I was really looking forward to meeting you and L2L. Ah, well, another time........

I still may go to the meeting....just not 100% sure yet.

TOM really takes a toll on me too. The craving are INSANE!! I crave sweets non-stop until TOM leaves. I hate it!!

shake it off, tomorrow is a new day!!

Yes.I know it has been a while since I have posted. But I am back now so I need to do some major catching up.

Hey everyone-

Just wanted to update a little bit since I haven't posted in a while. I went in for a fill today. I got .10 cc which brings me back up to 6.9 cc's. I am really going to get back into the swing of things. I got totally off track with planning my wedding and the combination of being TOOO tight for a few months. I was worried about getting this fill because let me tell you being TOO tight is miserable and I don't ever want to be back there again. But it really is a fine line between just right and too tight, its really hard to tell sometimes. I am still on liquids and have promised myself to follow the 2-3 day plan. I never usually do- usually by the second day I am testing the waters and proceed from there, but in an effort to get back to the basics I am following the rules! Yay! I have also been exercising the past few days which I had totally gotten away from. I guess I got discouraged because I started to get that gnawing feeling of being on one constant diet and as most of you can relate, that never lasts for long so I had drifted away from the bandster rules. Luckily my band kept me from doing any real damage but it did throw me off by a month or two but the important thing is I'm picking myself back up and starting out the right way again. Anyway, just wanted to post and update you guys, nobody really posts very much anymore so I wanted to bump this up. Who all is going to the support group meeting? I doubt I can make it as that is usually on a day when I have to work late. How is everyone else doing? I keep in regular contact with bamboobabe but haven't really talked to much of anyone else. How are things going ya'lls way? Just to mention for motivation sake, I saw a guy I went to school with who had lapband done about 2 years or so ago and he is down 170 lbs! He looks fantastic!!! I was talking to him and he said that he had months were the scales didnt budge and then all of a sudden he would lose pretty fast. He also struggled with being too tight and then too loose. He really encouraged me to just hang in there and reminded me that this wasn't a race and that if I would just stick to it that it would eventually come off. It was good to hear that because I have always had a set schedule of how *I* wanted to lose the weight and by which date and such and such. He really put it into perspective that I just need to be consistent with my habits and the rest would fall into place. Oh well, let me run I think I've babbled on enough!

Mia - hey hun! I'm so glad to hear from you. I don't know if I'll make the meeting either. I'm going to try though.

I've been struggling lately myself. I'm not too tight, just got a lot going on emotionally. I will stick to it though. I went through that too tight for a couple of weeks - won't do that again! It was horrible! I miss everyone here...we used to post regularly.

I'm not losing right now nor am I gaining. My band keeps me from that - Thank goodness! I'm going to tough it out - I may need a slight fill, but I'm waiting it out right. See how I do for the next couple of weeks. Hang in there! :-)

I'm with you - where's everybody???

Hey Mia, L2L!

I am glad you guys are around. You both look great. Remember, the scale remaining still is better than that slow upward tick! I have had my own battles lately, as seen on another thread I posted recently. I won't bore everyone, but in the end, my scale is broken. It says I weigh 18.3 lbs. I am just enjoying that every day, seeing that tiny number. I have weighed every day for so long, I am going to put off buying a new scale for a few days, just to force myself away from that obsession.

I am planning on going to the meeting tomorrow night. My sweet DH is going to go w/ me and probably sit in the car while we meet. He's the shizzle! I hope you guys get to go. I have been looking forward to meeting my LBT friends.

Hello everyone!! I have been doing really good lately, especially with the exercise. I have been pretty sick these last couple of days and not sleeping good. Here it is, 12:30 am and I can't sleep. Not sure if it's the flu or something else, so I'm pretty sure I won't make it to the meeting. If for some reason I feel a lot better, I'll go.

It was good to hear from ya'll.

I'm not going to make it to the meeting tonight. I do feel a little better today, but not good enough to get out. Whoever goes, be sure and let us know how it goes. I'll try my best to make the next one.

Well, I obviously didn't make the meeting either! Weekdays are so hard for me to fit anything else in, between kids and work. I'm doing okay, could probably stand a fill and could also stand to back away from the M&Ms! LOL! But the scale is slowly moving downward, so that is something. I am exercising pretty well, with walking one day, yoga another, and aerobics a third day. Right now, I just can't do anymore than that, so it will have to work. Overall, I can't complain, although I sure wish I'd loose faster!

I missed you guys at the meeting last night! I think I was the only LBTer there. Maybe next time we can meet up - those of us who live near Albany could even meet up for dinner or coffee beforehand?

It was a pretty good meeting, tho it was my first so I don't have much to compare it to. The speaker seemed very nice and she certainly has lost a lot of weight. She looks great, and was very upbeat and positive.

I don't want to seem negative, but I must say that if I took what she said at face value and didn't know better I would have a very different idea about life after lap band. At first it was almost like 'I don't exercise, I eat ice cream, and fast food, and drink soda occasionally. And oh, I also lost 192 pounds. I just 'watch it.'

I wanted to say - OH! Why didn't someone tell me....I need to watch it. I can eat whatever, I've just been forgetting to watch it! And no exercise either, so long as you watch it. Ack! I feel so dumb!!!!! Why didn't someone tell me to WATCH it, before I spent $17,000!!!!

But I didn't. And she did get into more of the nitty gritty, so to speak. But that was only after some questions. Maybe it's just me, but I wanted to hear about the struggles she'd had. I wanted to hear about what didn't work, so I can avoid some of the mistakes. I wanted to hear that it's not magic, that we all struggle, but that it is STILL POSSIBLE and worth it. I do feel motivated, but not as much as I wanted to. Which I guess is a lot to put on a non-professional speaker.

The bottom line is that I have to motivate me, not rely on someone else to do it.

I hate I missed the meeting. Oneder Woman, the speaker at the first meeting was kinda the same way. She said she still ate junk, just less of it and she didn't exercise either. That just goes to show how different we all are. I can't eat junk and lose. That's just not the way it works. And if I didn't exercise, I guarantee I would not be losing. Kinda sucks, but that's just the way it is for me.

Thought I would share a small NSV with ya'll. Most of ya'll know I have been training for a 5k next month. I was beginning to wonder if I would be ready. Anyway, after being sick a few days and not running, I went to the YMCA today and ran. I ran for 30 minutes straight....about 2.3 miles! No way I could have done that without my band. Now I finally believe that I can be ready for the run! I finally feel like my hard work is beginning to pay off!

Have a great weekend everyone!