Short Background:

Sept 07: Starts liquid Diet.

Nov 07: Meets Pre-op Weight Goal (330lbs.)

Dec 07-Mar 08: Long Story

Mar 6th, 2008: Failed Lap-Band Surgery. asked to lose 30 more pounds.

Mar to Today: Back and forth struggle, upset, anger, courage,etc. Now weigh 315 lbs.

Okay...

If all goes well, I will be at around 300 lbs. by the end of the month. My surgery will not be scheduled until July of this year. They want me to stay on the liquid diet until then. If all goes as planned I will be in the 270-280 range by the time I go into surgery. My ultimate goal is 170.

I guess my thoughts are, I will have lost over 100 pounds by the time I get back into surgery and I will be close to only having 100 pounds to lose.

Should I even bother with the surgery?

A part of me doesn't want to go through the surgery again and have it fail again. I will be devastated if this happens.

Another part of me knows that during my off diet period last month I gained 5 pounds in three days and I WAS eating healthy. No fast food, minimal carbs, and so forth. But my body glommed onto everything like a starving maniac.

It's apparent my body is very effecient in using food, too effecient. I believe I still need the tool of the lap-band, but I'm no longer 100% about it and I wonder if it's fear.

What would you do? If you were losing the weight anyway would you still have the surgery?

I know I'm not eating normally. But then I will not being eating "normally" ever again. I will have a re-defined normal, but, jeez....I'm running around in circles over the matter. It;ll be hard and probably unhealthy to do this Protein diet for another year , which is what it will probably take to drop the final 100. And once I'm back on a normal diet I will probably pack the pounds back on. But...I've already had 2 surgeries this year...

And on a side note, my insurance will cover some of the plastic surgery if I have the WLS, if not and I lose it all on my own, I have to go through a lot of petitions. Somehow, I think that policy is messed up.

:biggrin::thumbup::party::sad::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup::thumbup:

Edited May 8, 200818 yr by pandagirl

I'm getting banded on Monday May 12th.

I have about 70 lbs to lose, but I'm doing it because I also have Co-morbidites (Diabetes and hypertension)

I love life too much to spend my retirement in a wheelchair, and maybe with only 1 leg since I probably would lose one from complication from diabetes...

I guess i'm trying to prevent that from happening...

I would rather spend my retirement traveling the world. If Lapband can get me to be 70 lbs lighter, it will be a lot easier for sightseeing ^____^

Also, you can lose a lot from doing liquid diet. You just have to ask youself will you be doing as well once you start eating normally.

I can't speak for anyone else... but I know how I got "here", being overweight and not so healthy and all...

Whatever you decided to do, I wish you all the best!

pandagirl:

Congratulations for your success at loosing 100#!!!

And consider whatever your choice, that 'eating NORMAL' is NOT what any of us Morbidly Obese has EVER done for any length of time.

You speak of 'eating normally' eventually....what exactly does that encompass if you can describe what you mean?

We are ALL experts at just ONE thing: OVEREATING. Which is NOT 'normal', whatever kind of diet we might label it.

Fear is one of our strongest motivators. Anticipation of fear also motivates our behavior. So does anticipation of 'BEING hungry'....and eating regardless.

Whatever the cause, it takes a Warrior's heart to overcome adversity and donuts!!!

Cheers in your journey.

Right now eating normally means I can choose items that are not protien shake, veggies and meat. I've was on Protein shake for breakfast/lunch, salad with meat for dinner diet from Sept up til last week. (With about a total of 3 weeks off diet for reasons such as g/b surgery, and just plain needing to.) And I've been on a strict liquid diet since last week.

I'd really, really like to get all of this over with so I can learn what normal for a bandster is. At the moment it's all theory and on occassion I feel like the universe has asked me to do a little more for this diet than others. Maybe it's a big whine on my part, but you know I knew WLS would be hard, I didn't know it was going to be this hard.

I'm getting banded on Monday May 12th.

I have about 70 lbs to lose, but I'm doing it because I also have Co-morbidites (Diabetes and hypertension)

I love life too much to spend my retirement in a wheelchair, and maybe with only 1 leg since I probably would lose one from complication from diabetes...

I guess i'm trying to prevent that from happening...

I would rather spend my retirement traveling the world. If Lapband can get me to be 70 lbs lighter, it will be a lot easier for sightseeing ^____^

Also, you can lose a lot from doing liquid diet. You just have to ask youself will you be doing as well once you start eating normally.

I can't speak for anyone else... but I know how I got "here", being overweight and not so healthy and all...

Whatever you decided to do, I wish you all the best!

I've been telling myself that diabetes is looming over me and I've put so much effort into this to stop now, but that doesn't stop me from questioning it.

I hope your recovery is smooth. Gosh the 12th isn't too far away!!!!!!

What I would ask myself is:

have I lost weight before? (Yes)

have I kept it off? (No)

if not, what makes this time different? (Nothing)

I have lost weight before. I have lost TONS of weight. But I always gain it back.

My feeling is anyone can lose weight on any diet. But most diets don't have you eating the way you will eat for the rest of your life. Once people get off the diets, they gain the weight back.

The only way diets can work IMO is if you eat healthy food in reasonable quantities -- the number of calories you would need to maintain whatever your goal weight is, not some really small amount that you won't be able to stick to forever. But when you do that, most people are too hungry to stick with the number of calories or they don't lose weight past a certain point.

Yes, I would still go ahead with the surgery. You've been spectacularly successful, well done! But a liquid high Protein low carb diet is no way to eat for the long term, and sooner or later you will be so sick of it that you will have to stop. Then you'll most probably pile a ton of weight back on again.

And even though its kind of lost in the general number thing when you've been morbidly obese, 100lb, even 70lb is a huge amount of weight to have to lose and its not going to come off as easily as it does at first.

Perhaps my tales of woe may help you with your decision...In 1986 I went on Optifast and lost 50 pounds in about 8 weeks. Got down to about 160# and was thrilled. Weight slowly crept back despite going to the gym regularly. Spent the next 20 years yo-yo dieting until peaking at 310# a few years ago. This is almost 100#s more than when I went on Optifast in 1986.

In 2006 at 310# I decided to see if Optifast was still around and sure enough, it was. I quickly decided to get back in the driver's seat and try it again. In about 5 months I lost 125#s. I really looked good and felt great, although I never made it back to my ideal fweight rom 20 years prior.

Here we are in 2008 and I have gained back about 80 of the 125#s lost in 2006. I am now on medication for high blood pressure. It sucks; to be blunt.

For me, the liquid fasts worked only for the short term, but I realoze that I need the surgical intervention for me to achieve my goals. I am sharing my plight with you not knowing how you react to yo yo dieting and the extent of your willpower. I have great willpower as demonstrated for staying on liquids for 5 months. Bottom line...I don't get full too often and I need help. Best of luck to you with your decision!! BTW, I had my gallbladder removed about 2 weeks ago and am getting ready for my lap band surgery on 5/19.

I just wrote about this in the 50's thread...I needed to hear your words!

I am on Day 10 of Optifast and have lost 11.5. I was able to get comfortable in a size 16 pants. So I am thinking--why??? For 60 lbs?? Why spend all this money (self pay) and have SURGERY (for goodness sakes!) if I can lose it?? But just like I thought I'd never let myself get to 200 lbs, I'm there and I know that 300 is a possibility/probability. At my age--not good. I live in an active adult community where people are aged 55 and up. To be honest, there are VERY few very obese people past age 70.

Surgery is May 13....I am confused and second guessing myself!

Judy

I dont think its unreasonable to think of a lapband as a preventative - I've lost weight before too, but never ever before have I managed to get to goal weight and stay there. And I was banded precisely because I knew that if I'd reached a bMI of 36, then 40 was only round the corner, and then more and more.

How much are they expecting you to lose before you're allowed the op?

You're doing fantastically well with your liquid diet.

I just wrote about this in the 50's thread...I needed to hear your words!

I am on Day 10 of Optifast and have lost 11.5. I was able to get comfortable in a size 16 pants. So I am thinking--why??? For 60 lbs?? Why spend all this money (self pay) and have SURGERY (for goodness sakes!) if I can lose it?? But just like I thought I'd never let myself get to 200 lbs, I'm there and I know that 300 is a possibility/probability. At my age--not good. I live in an active adult community where people are aged 55 and up. To be honest, there are VERY few very obese people past age 70.

Surgery is May 13....I am confused and second guessing myself!

Judy

I'm doing it. I've been going back and forth internally about it, but last night someone basically told me that I shouldn't do it and I got into a debate over why I should do it, right there I realized I was going to do it and all this flip flopping is just worry.

It's simple. I have the will power and the courage to do this. The lapband is a tool. I need both for ongoing, continued success. Because like so many have said, we all have lost weight and it doesn't to be a matter of losing, it's a matter of keeping that loss off.

Good luck to you. And you're right the obese don't live past 70 often. You can do something about it now, just like me.

How much are they expecting you to lose before you're allowed the op?

You're doing fantastically well with your liquid diet.

I went into thier office weighing 385. They originally wanted me to lose 55 pounds. 330 was my goal and I made it. I went into surgery and they couldn't place the band. My fat was thickest towards the core of my body and they had trouble with the sewing instrument. They decided to stop the surgery and have me lose at least 30 more pounds.

Basically, she thinks 30 will be good enough, but they want to reevaluate when I make that goal. Maybe I walk into the office and they'll want me to lose 10 more or 20 more.

All of this has been frustrating because I've had some difficulty losing it as quickly as some others. I've been doing this for soooo long and it got to a point of severe frustration. I only lost 6 pounds in March and 4 pounds in April becuase of this.

Also, they took me from a 2 shakes/1 salad meal plan to 3 shakes a day. The latter has been difficult for me becuase of the length of time I've been on the original meal plan.

Sorry, rambling. I'll end it here.

Perhaps my tales of woe may help you with your decision...In 1986 I went on Optifast and lost 50 pounds in about 8 weeks. Got down to about 160# and was thrilled. Weight slowly crept back despite going to the gym regularly. Spent the next 20 years yo-yo dieting until peaking at 310# a few years ago. This is almost 100#s more than when I went on Optifast in 1986.

In 2006 at 310# I decided to see if Optifast was still around and sure enough, it was. I quickly decided to get back in the driver's seat and try it again. In about 5 months I lost 125#s. I really looked good and felt great, although I never made it back to my ideal fweight rom 20 years prior.

Here we are in 2008 and I have gained back about 80 of the 125#s lost in 2006. I am now on medication for high blood pressure. It sucks; to be blunt.

For me, the liquid fasts worked only for the short term, but I realoze that I need the surgical intervention for me to achieve my goals. I am sharing my plight with you not knowing how you react to yo yo dieting and the extent of your willpower. I have great willpower as demonstrated for staying on liquids for 5 months. Bottom line...I don't get full too often and I need help. Best of luck to you with your decision!! BTW, I had my gallbladder removed about 2 weeks ago and am getting ready for my lap band surgery on 5/19.

You're right. I've lost weight before and have been unable to keep it off for more than a year. It always starts creeping back. I know I've changed so much in regards to my relationship with food, but I don't want to have gone through all of this and find my self pushing 400 again. I'm 36. I don't want to wake up 20 years from now wishing I'd done this surgery back then when I had the chance.

Thanks, Panda

Yes, I would still go ahead with the surgery. You've been spectacularly successful, well done! But a liquid high Protein low carb diet is no way to eat for the long term, and sooner or later you will be so sick of it that you will have to stop. Then you'll most probably pile a ton of weight back on again.

And even though its kind of lost in the general number thing when you've been morbidly obese, 100lb, even 70lb is a huge amount of weight to have to lose and its not going to come off as easily as it does at first.

Yes, it's going to get harder and harder to stay on the diet I am and lose the wieght I need to. I get that. I even tell myself over and over again what I need to do. Deep down I know what needs to be done and I know how much further I have to go. I will do it. I will smile big and make it through, but all this adamancy is tinged with a bit of "what if..." Smiles, thanks for support, I need it.