Hey guys, there's been little action with our January people the past few weeks. I hope all are doing well.

I had a doctor visit today , lost 8 pounds, so no fill! I was really sick a few weeks back, dry heaving for two days, and thought for sure damaged the band, but everything was fine. I was aggressively filled in September, and it was hard to get food down, but now things are better.

I am in a size 18 now, and its been at least 20 years, if not more since I was this thin. Buying clothes is a challenge, and I seem to be doing laundry more often these days.

Exercise has been limited to walking. I haven't had the time or the desire for more.

Hope all are doing well, post your updates here.

I am doing ok, I guess. I have been stuck at the same weight for over a month now. Of course I know why. I am still going to the gym, and feel my workouts are really helping to tune my body, but I just have not been able to curb my appetite lately.

I have been debating getting another fill, but I still struggle a lot with the fill I have now. I have just gotten much better at finding cheater foods.

Also I think I have hit that "can I be happy at this weight" stage where I am not as motivated to loose.

I still have 55 pounds to go till my goal weight, so I really should not be so complacent at this point.

Maybe consume half of the cheater foods you are eating.

Also, my doctor told me that with more activity you do need to eat more.

When I am tight, I make chili, eat tunafish, make small portions of flaky fish. I also bought Lloyds shredded pork at my local supermarket. I make homemade Pea Soup with shredded ham too.

You should probably not think of weight loss, or get on the scale for a few days, maybe getting your mind off of things will kick your body in gear.

Hey Guys!

I'm doing great. My weight loss slowed drastically lately too and my doc said if I'm hungry between meals, then I need a fill. He bumped me up another .6 and has done the trick! Now if I can just behave, maybe I can get these last 20 pounds off.

I know I'm going to have to work for the last 20, the first 70 came off with little to no effort from me, so I can't complain really.

I am doing well, almost there. I am having serious allergy issues lately and the gym is a distant memory. I am thinking in a week or two I can launch back into it and round this last 13 pounds off. Averaging still around 1.9 pounds a week according to fitday and I figure that when I get to that goal I am going to evaluate whether I want to go for 20 more. I love being able to fit into normal size clothes and I love that I look like everybody else. Average.

Me too, on the getting hungry.. So I went today for a fill, got .8cc added. That makes me 1.8cc in 4cc band.. I wandered into that land of cheater foods.. Now I'm back, it was good there, but I've been there and tossed that t-shirt!!! I was down 95 pounds, but bounced back to 90, dang it!! back on track.. Got to get that goal!!

Kathy in Texas..

Chrisann, congrats on getting into an 18!

B-man, congrats on your loss so far, but just keep at it. If you can, get rid of the foods you know you shouldn't be eating!

WTG Suzanne on your loss! We're basically at the same point. I have 20lbs or so til my ultimate goal weight.

Gingerbug- congrats on your weight loss!

kcintx- amazing weight loss! Keep it up!!

As for myself, I was rebanded 3 weeks ago and I am healing well. I'm grateful that I was able to get rebanded a little over a month after finding out that I had a leak. But because I am still healing, my food and exercise have been out of whack, which is to be expected. I was in such a great groove this summer and I have to wait a few more weeks to start weight training again. I just re-started my cardio and am trying to get back into the swing of things.

I have ABSOLUTELY NO RESTRICTION AND IT STINKS! But because I am healing a lot quicker than the first surgery, I can eat almost everything now, and as much as I want of it. I can eat just as much as I could pre-band, which scares the heck out of me. That is why I am SO ready for my first fill next week. I just don't want it to take 3-4 months to get to my sweet spot. I want to be able to have good restriction so that I can get to my goal weight by my one year anniversary, which is in 12 weeks! Where did the year go?

Great job everyone!! I lost the least amount of weight amongst us, and you know what? I don't give a damn. Once while getting ready for the surgery, I was concerned at the rate of weight loss among people, but now, having been 10 months out of surgery, I could care less how much everyone else loses as long as I am on my own pace. I feel like I have matured a little bit.

And you shouldn't Chrisann! Everyone loses at their own pace. There are so many different factors that affects each person's weight loss. As long as you're happy with your progress (and you definitely should be), then that's all that matters. But as a note Chrisann, we've lost about the same amount of weight and bmi points and we were only banded a little over a week from each other.

Great job everyone!! I lost the least amount of weight amongst us, and you know what? I don't give a damn. Once while getting ready for the surgery, I was concerned at the rate of weight loss among people, but now, having been 10 months out of surgery, I could care less how much everyone else loses as long as I am on my own pace. I feel like I have matured a little bit.

You are at a kick ass pace, IMO. Maybe less than some but, seriously, BARELY. We cant compare ourselves to others, it is just not realistic. You are doing an outstanding job.

Great job everyone!! I lost the least amount of weight amongst us, and you know what? I don't give a damn. Once while getting ready for the surgery, I was concerned at the rate of weight loss among people, but now, having been 10 months out of surgery, I could care less how much everyone else loses as long as I am on my own pace. I feel like I have matured a little bit.

Acutally, I've lost the least. You have me beat by 3 pounds. I'm with you though, it doesn't matter to me as long as I'm losing.

Congrats everyone! It is so exciting to see such great results. I agree....everyone will lose at their own pace and I look at it this way....this is a life long comittment, so there is no hurry...

Today, I wore my new pants.....size 14.....I cannot believe it, I can't even remember when I could last wear a 14....it just amazes me. However, I was wondering if anyone else has this issue....I still see myself as when I was at my heaviest.....I get compliments all the time from friends and co-workers saying they can really tell I have lost weight, and I know I have, but I don't know if I will ever be able to see my self as "normal" Does anyone else struggle with this?

Keep up the great work:)

I look in the mirror and really don't see it either. I think its because we look at ourselves all the time. I look at pictures and then can see it.

With clothes, before when I was larger things were usually tight, now they are bigger, but I can't see that either in the mirror. A guy at work pointed that out how baggy my pants were on my butt to me, and thats when I went to Macy's at lunch and found out I was a size 18. The pants I wore that day were size 22, and the shirt was a 3x.

Ok, here's what happened to me. You all know I am currently living in Barcelona Spain while my daughter does a semester of school here. And I told you I had to go to the hospital last month because I have been very tight since May when I had my last fill. So tight that I vomited at least weekly becuase food got stuck and I could not get it past the band. They have been unable to remove fluid because my tubing was kinked and they wanted to take the band out here.

So, I went back to Tucson 4 days after my hospital stay here because I was barely drinking. My Dr. tried to remove the fluid and could not. I had a Barium swallow and x-rays to make sure the band was in place. The band was OK. I had surgery to replace the port and the kinked tubing from the port. This of coarse was another couple of thousand dollars to the hospital plus airfare. But the worst part, he removed all the fluid and said until I healed, the swelling was down and I came back to the states he felt it best I leave it empty. He said, "You won't gain weight because now you know how to eat." They just don"t get it, we all know how to eat. If we could do it, we would not need the band in the first place. When I had my surgery in January I weighed 219# and the other day before surgery I weighed 169# thats 50 # since January. I have not weighed 169 since I was 30. I am so bummed out and scared to death to regain weight. I am trying to go home next month instead of December so I can have the fluid put back in. I need to see if my daughter can stay with a family the last month here.

Do you think he will put all 6cc in at once or will I have to build back up a little at a time? He had originally put 3.5cc in at surgery and I only had about 3 fills before it became too tight.

I cannot believe it will almost be a year since we all started this journey. Pretty soon we will have to call ourselves the "OLD YEAR KNOCKOUTS":tt1:

Have a good week. Diane It does not help that there are more bakeries here than I have ever seen. Every morning I smell fresh bread and pasteries. In the past if I tried to eat bread I'd choke and throw up. Now, I can eat bread, which tastes wonderful, but is very bad. Why is everything that tastes so good, so bad for us? That's life I guess.

Chrisann I have lost less weight than you and I have been really tight for the last 4 mos. We all loose differently, but at least it's going in the right direction. Diane

Everyone is doing great!! Of course, there will be that bump(called eating) in the road, but we can do this!! I went back and got my fill adjusted .. Now I have 2.6 in this 4cc band.. that day, I thought I would never swallow again, but I'm getting there.. More to deal with this time, has curbed the hunger.. finally!! I don't know if it's my sweet spot yet, got my fingers crossed.. I'm doing baby food this time, it's easier to eat, fix (ha), and smaller portions..

Good luck all...