I'm going for my consult next week (chickened out of my last appt) I'm sure now that the band is the way to go for me.

I'm just so afraid of failure! The band is an aid not a magic pill, I know that, but my willpower sucks. I'm a self-pay and I'm ready to give this 100%, but I don't even know if I can stick to the pre-op diet!

We are all here for a reason, so I hope I'm not alone. Please give me some feedback

:drool:

ahhh jayme... i feel EXACTLY the same! i didn't chicken out of my consult (yet) but it's not until next week. it did take me awhile to go to a seminar though. i was SO afraid of being judged.

i think everyone fears not being able to give up the behavior we all obviously have of overeating. i'm going to be self pay as well and i'm so worried i'm going to be in debt for years and STILL fat.

this is such a wonderful place and i'm glad i found it. there is so much support and i hope you feel it too!

kris

I am a whore for M&Ms too... and I never ate them because I was hungry...

A lb of them would be gone before I even realized I had opened the bag...

Since being banded... I still eat M&Ms for all the wrong reasons...

however, a small individual bag now lasts me for THREE stress sessions...

The tool works... I have lost 50 lbs since Thanksgiving...

I didn't get the band so I could never eat M&Ms again...

I just want to be able to control the REASONS I eat them.

If I could only find a band for my BRAIN... lol

I have no willpower whatsoever either. I have had the band for 11 weeks. I do not have any of my trigger foods, which were Ice Cream, Mallomars, Girl Scout Cookies, Rice in my house.

I have had one small piece of Ice Cream cake, and I got full, I ate 4 Girl Scout Thin Mints, and 1 Samoa, and got full. So yes, I cheated, but these were at work, and I couldn't eat any more than I stated above. Since eating these things, on seperate days, by the way, I have not had the desire for these since.

I have not touched Mallomars in the store, and gave away the boxes of rice and rice a roni I had in the house.

So what is my point? The band is working for me because I am working with it. I feel that by having those trigger items at my office made me not crave bigger portions later on. My past experiences were that if I didn't eat ice cream for even 3 days, on that 4th day, I would have eaten the whole half gallon.

The band is a helpful tool, and always remember that. Its not the holy grail, but if you treat it right it will help you so, so much.

I avoid those foods by not having them in the house. When I buy them I overeat them, simple as that.

I cannot identify at all with bandsters who say they were ALWAYS hungry. I wasnt. I ate for other reasons. Now a lot of the foods I ate for those other reasons dont agree with me and I dont enjoy them anymore. I could still (and have) eat a big bag of m and m's. I just try not to do it often.

I eat like a normal person now. Normal people eat badly sometimes too. But they eat fine most of the time.

We are all here for the same reason. I knew I needed to do something when I was afraid to go to the doctor because of being embarrassed about my weight. I did research and decided the band was the answer for me and I have not wavered once in my committment to change my life and health for the better. I also had to pay 10,000 which has given me all the incentive I need to succeed. I am 9 weeks post op and have lost 33 lbs. Failure is not an option for me. I have not eaten at a restaurant even once, so there are sacrifices. As my foundation gets stronger and the weight loss gets greater I will venture out into the world of normal eaters. I am at the gym 5 days a week and journal every calorie I put in my mouth. It may seem very regimented to some, but I was so out of control that this is what I need to do to be successful and maintain a good weight loss. Even though I have only had 1 fill, 5 days ago, I know I could not have accomplished this without the surgery. For me, the band will be the most helpful in just keeping the weight I have lost off. For some reason it always finds me after I lose it. Good luck in your journey and when you are ready to make that committment to yourself.......you will be thin again.

MM's never liked them, but dangle some Reeses Peanut Butter cups in my face and you better watch your fingers.

They are my all time favorites. Especially when I need comfort food for "that" time. Actually, that is the only time I ever eat them. Which is weird cause up until this thread I never thought about it and thought I ate them all the time. THen I thought about it and realized that only once a month do I revert to comfort foods, and its a sick combination, reeses and freetos. Dunno why but that combo makes me happy... ROFL

Dunno what I am gonna do after I get banded, check out some of the baked freeto's .. and look into Newmans organic peanutbutter cups I guess. Or try the fat free ones.... This is serious thought time.

(ok that was sarcasm, I already have it worked out what I am going to do druing "that time" eating, lots (well as much as my tummy can take) of naners and pears. Naners for the chocolate need, and pears for the salt need. (it is a trick my nutritionist taught me and it works too!!)

I laughed when I saw the name of the thread. But after reading it, not what I thought.

If you never ate a pound of M&Ms because you were hungry....

you will now!

For a time, M&Ms was the only thing that would go down...peanut M&Ms that is. They've gotten me through some dark times.

But look at me now!

I'm confused about the naners and pears. I thought it was bananas and pears but where does the salt and chocalate come in? I wish some one would invent a reeses cup with 5 calories. I love them!

I think most people are afraid of failure because that's what we've done all our lives with it came to weight loss...FAILED! However, you've NEVER had a tool like this in your arsenal! Even after I lost like 60 lbs, I was afraid of failing when my loss stopped for a while. And, here I am almost down 125! Yeah...it's awesome and you won't fail this time when you use the band as a TOOL and change your life. IT WILL WORK WHEN YOU USE IT!!!

I'm confused about the naners and pears. I thought it was bananas and pears but where does the salt and chocalate come in? I wish some one would invent a reeses cup with 5 calories. I love them!

Ok, the good stuff that is in a banana's mimics the chemical make up of chocolate, so if you are craving chocolate eat a banana and pay attention to that craving. It will go away.

Same holds true for pears and the chemical make up of sodium. I was never a pear eater until my nutritionist pointed this out. She asked me what my "monthly comfort" foods were and I told her, salt and chocolate in the form of the almighty reeses cups and Frito's corn chips. And if I go anemic rare steak (she put me on Iron supplements .. who woulda thought they worked .. :grouphug:)

So since then, a week prior I make sure I am stocked up on naners and pears. It works 99% of the time like a charm. If the produce selection is slim picking, I make sure I get canned pears, and then go shopping else where for banana's.

I just thought I would chime in to say, that M&M's are designed to be exactly the food (and I use that term loosely) that they are. The chocolate in M&M's is DESIGNED to be LESS SATISFYING than other forms of chocolate, so you KEEP eating them! I have not had much M&M's since I found that out.

Thank you all sooo much for all your words of encouragement. I really helps to know there are so many people in the same boat!

Even when I, or people I know, have lost big weight, they always eventually put it back on. I am hopefull that this is the tool to prevent that, and that my only regret will be not to have done it sooner.