K I want to say right off the bat that I know this isnt a miracle cure and that the weight wont drop off overnite. But I never expected it to be this damn hard to lose this weight.:redface: I go to the gym, I eat right, I try to remember to drink alot of Water and crystal light. I am probably hurting myself sleeping til noon and that might be messing up my metabolism and not going to the gym until afternoon when to speed the metabolism I've read you need to go to the gym in the morning. But still I didnt expect it to be this damn hard to lose this weight.:mad: I am losing weight in my neck, my arms, my legs, even my boobs..but there is NOTHING COMING off of my stomach. I cant even squeeze my ass into a size 24 pair of jeans and I had the surgery over 2 months ago. What the hell did I do this for..right now I'm stuck since my 2nd fill at 235 lbs.. the scale wont move.:thumbdown: I believe I am doing everything right and yet I'm not making any flippin progress. I went through all the pain and the 10 day preop diet and followed all the damn rules and still i'm this big fat slob.:crying::mad2: What the hell is this band really gonna do for me.

I have pcos and insulin resistance and I think that it's making it even harder to lose this damn weight. I know everyone is different but come on there is ppl over 3 months out that have lost over 50 flippin lbs.

K I feel better knowing that this is out and hopefully it will make other ppl realize they arent alone in their frustrations about this band.

peace and love to all

dolphin:rolleyes:

Hey Dolphin, I have PCOS and Insulin Resistance as well. Given my experience with any other type of diet or "lifestyle change" I'm going into this knowing that I just will NOT lose weight like everyone else seems to (when they've put even a minimal effort into it), but damnit I'm going to fight for every pound. :thumbdown: I did ask my surgeon if the PCOS/IR would play a roll in my weight loss efforts, and he was straight up in telling me that yes, his PCOS/IR patients did tend to lose the weight more slowly.

That being said, I completely understand why you are so frustrated (seeing others just drop the weight so quickly), but I also think you should be really proud of yourself! Losing 24 pounds in a few months is actually really great. Just think, could you have done that without the band? I probably could not have, not without doing something that was very extreme and not sustainable (thus assuring a quick regain and then some). Also, be sure to talk to the dietician, and make sure he/she helps you create a plan that will work with your PCOS/IR.

Good luck and be sure to add me to your friends list, I'll probably need this same reminder/pep talk in a few months after I've been banded.

Take care! Lori

Maybe you aren't following the rules close enough.

Something as little as an extra healthy snack several times last week affected my ability to lose that week.

I woudn't worry about what time you do things. The space between your meals is far more critical. Never let your body get hungry before you eat, make healthy food choices, always eat your Proteins first & don't have your beverages until at least a half hour after you eat.

This is what I do:

Love’s Meals

I eat no more than 1 cup of food every 3-4 waking hours.

Breakfast @ 11:00am:

- 1 egg scrambled with 1 ounce of cheddar cheese & some chopped black forest ham

- 1 packet instant oatmeal (flavoured, or natural + 1 tsp honey) with skim milk, 1 ½ tbsp raisins, 1 tbsp toasted wheat germ, & 1 ½ tbsp ground almonds or walnuts

Snack @ 12:30pm:

- 1 cup plastic juice box of apple or orange juice

- a small can of original V8

lunch @ 2:00 or 3:00pm:

- a High Protein vanilla Boost

dinner @ 6:00 or 7:00pm:

One pot meals frozen in 1 cup containers:

- chilli, made with ground turkey

- spaghetti sauce, made with ground turkey, & a bit of macaroni

- sheppard’s pie, made with ground turkey

- beef stew

- Canadian bacon & potato stew

- chicken dishes made with a little rice or Pasta & light cream of broccoli or chicken Soup

- Kraft dish made with chicken, corn, salsa & cheese

Evening Snack @ 10:00pm:

- 1 cup Silhouette cherry yogurt

- 1/3 container of fat free cottage cheese with tuna salad, 1 cup total

- 1/3 container of fat free cottage cheese with fresh or canned fruit, 1 cup total

- 2 rye crisps with 2 tbsp hummus

- 2 rye crisps with 2 tbsp almond butter

- 2 rye crisps with 2 tbsp guacamole

- 2 tbsp Peanut Butter

- a hard boiled egg

- ½ cup almonds or walnuts

- a ‘baked’ apple - cored apple stuffed with 1 tbsp raisins & lemon juice

- 1 oz light cream cheese wrapped in 1 oz smoked salmon

- 2 oz cheddar cheese

I take a chewable Centrum or Flinstone’s multi-vitamin & liquid Calcium / magnesium after breakfast & a chewable Vitamin C after my evening snack.

I try to get 4-8 oz. Water in first thing in the morning, on the drive to & from work, & before bed. I am only getting in about half of what I'd guzzle pre-band.

I work out during Coronation Street. Since I hate exercise, I need something to distract my while I do it. :thumbdown:

I find keeping to a routine in my day ready helps. Having meals ready also keeps me from thinking about what I am going to be eating that night, all day.

I sent this to my nutritionist this week & she thought it was just fabulous.

Edited July 31, 200818 yr by *Love*
typos

I also have pcos. i was banded almost 7 months ago and i have lost 59 pounds. my doc says that we should lose a average of 1-2 pound a week. this is what i go by. eveyone is different and as long as my doctor is happy i am too. one month i had only lost 8 pounds so i was sure i would get a fill but my doc said i was still doing good. hang in there it is by no means easy.. 24 pounds is great.

Dolphin, you've lost 24lb in only 2 months, 2 & half if you include the pre-op time. You're doing fabulously - better than I did and you are losing at ABOVE the average rate. Some people will have lost more than 50lb at the 3 month mark but they are very much the exception, not the rule. Your achievement is excellent and well on track.

I know it's hard at the beginning, because in spite of the many times we tell ourselves "this isn't a miracle cure", I think deep down we are all secretly hoping that it will be just that. When everything is new, you are really focussed on the daily reward of the scale and when you don't get that every day, it gets frustrating. Try not to let it get you down and just take a longer term view. In a couple more months, that number will have doubled and you could easily be 48lb down, then 60lb, and so on.

I felt very much like you for the first 2 to 3 months - frustrated, worried that it wasn't working, unable to give myself credit for the numbers that I was achieving, but as time goes by, I am becoming more and more relaxed about things. I am only losing at around 4-6lb a month at the moment and guess what? I am FINE with that! After 7 months, that has added up to nearly 60lb and that's a BIG chunk! I have confidence now that the losses will continue, slowly but surely, steadily drifting downwards.

I think part of the panic at the beginning of the journey is because we are used to doing "quick loss" diets where we aim to shed 10's of pounds as fast as we can. In the back of our minds, we know that the wonderful ride down is only short-lived, so we want to get down as far as we can before it all falls apart and we start the horrible climb upwards again. THAT DOESN'T HAVE TO HAPPEN THIS TIME!!

You can lose slowly - if you stick to the rules, the losses will continue! If you are only halfway sticking to them, you won't regain! As long as you use this tool for portion control and don't start stuffing your face with chocolates and icecream, THE JOURNEY DOESN'T STOP TILL YOU GET TO GOAL! Think about it for a while - that is a wonderful feeling of relief when it really sinks in.

I am three months out and I keep wavering between 20-25 lbs lost, and I am ecstatic. I could never have lost that much weight in three months before. As I am sure you couldn't have either. But one thing I heard somewhere along my long line of dieting, is that you lose the weight in the reverse order you put it on. My tummy was the first place I started to gain weight. So, I am expecting that to be one of the last places I lose it. I can still remember my first stretch mark showing up just above my belly button. I had no idea of what it was. YIKES!!! Well now it's a whole family of them above the belly button, below the belly button, on my arms. I am surprised my eyeballs don't have stretch marks. I did after all gain 100 lbs in the six months following my high school graduation. Stop worrying, just keep doing what your doing, and eventually you will feel and see your results. I hate to get preachy on you, but "do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

You've lost 24 pounds -- that's great!

I also have PCOS and am insulin resistant. Yes, it's harder to lose weight, but you can do it. When you are insulin resistant, your body has too much insulin floating around in it because your cells don't absorb it well. Insulin make you hungry, and causes your cells to retain fat.

Have you tried a lower carb diet? Less carbs means less insulin.