Ok, so I know some of you posted in October, and I am 12 days late making a thread, but still, here is November.

I am officially in a plateau, its been 6 weeks since I lost weight, and in fact gained 3 pounds. Not overeating, I'm sticking to a plan, no candy, or crap.

I decided to not stress over it. I figure that my body is revolting against the weight, loss and has to catch up, so to speak.

My plan is to write down what I eat and go from there. I have great restriction, but think I am retaining Water, because what I drink is not coming out in the same quantity. Not to mention a friend said my face looked bloated. I guess now being thinner you can tell!

Hope everyone is fairing better, as we approach our 1 year anniversaries.:thumbup:

Well Halloween kicked my butt. I fell off the wagon so bad, that for a week or so I even stopped feeling guilty about all the candy I ate. Now I am pissed off, depressed, and having a hrd time getting back to the gym and a healthy eating pattern.

I gained three pounds as well. @#$@%!#

Work suxs right now for me, so I am really fighting to regain control.

Two things I do when I am depressed. Eat and Spend money. I went out and purchased a new tractor. That made me feel better, at least until the first payment is due.

I have been on a bit of a plateau lately as well.

Halloween has also been really tough because I keep snagging that occasional piece of chocolate . . . and snagging . . . and snagging . . . and wondering why I am not losing, lol, it is such a mystery to me :0)

I need to get back to charting my intake. I am not trying to lose so much as maintain right now . . . but I really, truly do not want to gain either. I am OK maintaining by eating healthy nutritious food, I am not OK with maintaining by eating crap which I have been doing occasionally over the last little bit of time.

I have a tendency to keep doing what I am doing . . . if I am doing great and staying on top of everything it is easy to continue . . . if I am slipping up I keep making excuses and it is easy to continue. I wish it were just easier to change my mindset when necessary. Is anyone else like this?

I am on the verge of breaking a small plateau. I really want to make goal before thanksgiving so I can just maintain for a month or so for the holidays, a break, if you will.

Thanks for starting the thread Chrisann.

Last year at this time, I had just started this journey and attended the seminar. I remember listening to the experiences of those who had already had the procedure with my doc, and wondering if I would ever achieve such success. Although not completely there, I have made enormous progress and am actually looking forward to see how far I can get by January.

Lately, it's been going slow (halloween killed me), but I'm happy things are still moving. I started south beach this week, hoping to jump start things again and get to at least 90 lbs lost by my band anniversary.

I've been having a lot of reflux lately. Have not had a fill since June, but I am worried that I am too tight. Prilosec helps, but it's still a problem in the evenings. I will talk to my doc next week. I am wary to get a slight unfill at this point. Anyone else experience this.....if so, what did you do?

Looking forward to seeing more updates, especially as we close in on 1 year.

I've been having a lot of reflux lately. Have not had a fill since June, but I am worried that I am too tight. Prilosec helps, but it's still a problem in the evenings. I will talk to my doc next week. I am wary to get a slight unfill at this point. Anyone else experience this.....if so, what did you do?

I tried everything to battle a night-time reflux problem from eating schedules, to medications, etc. Only one thing cured it, but it cured it completely . . . a small unfill.

For me, I either have great restriction, but can't sleep at night for the coughing and waking up with my mouth full, or I have moderate restriction and have to work a little harder to lose weight but sleep like a baby. Currently, I am sleeping like a baby, :0)

It's been 10 months now!! I made it to 100 pounds!! actually a little over now. I wanted this by my birthday, but had to settle for a little later in the month.. I've got the reflux some, got some OTC meds that seem to help. I also get the 'uncomfy' in my chest after I eat.. Not unbearable yet but ugh!! I'm worried about the holidays, food will be everywhere and I've been pb'ing and its frustrating.. I got back into exercising routine, which will help.. just wish this yuck feeling after eating would go away..

Greetings Everyone! Glad to hear you are all hanging in there. My weight loss has slowed quite a bit, but it is still coming off and that's the key. In the past, when I would stop losing I'd get discouraged and almost immediately start regaining and soon be heavier than when I started. With the band, I have been able to avoid that yoyo. I've had weeks where I gained a little, but then I get back on track. It's fantastic!

My last fill was in May. I still have good restriction, especially when I follow the "rules." Funny how that works. I'm sure I could go tighter and lose faster, but I really want to avoid damaging my band/stomach. I love this thing and don't want to take chances. I want it to last a lifetime.

My main struggles-- evening grazing!! I seem to be able to eat more at night, and I compound the sin by making bad choices. At the very time I need to be really limiting myself to solid Protein that will help my band do it's job the best, I sabotage myself with junk! Grrrr.. Also-- alcohol-- I'm not a big drinker by any means, but I do enjoy a little wine once a week or so and I've found that besides being a band no-no in terms of liquid calories, I also wind up eating more junk after I've had a couple of glasses. Finally- I'm a little concerned about my quantities. I've read so much varying information from people, but my doc is adamant that I need to stay between 1/3 and 1/2 cup of food per meal and eat more frequently if need be. He says overeating is by far the main cause of band slips. I stay pretty close to those limits and am generally satisfied, but I do eat more sometimes.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and stay the course. This is a marathon, not a sprint, and having the right expectations is important, at least for me.

Seems like everyone is doing good!

I have been on the mother of all plateus since I had my gallbladder out. Halloween tripped me up a bit. Who am I kidding.... A LOT! All those yummy mini chocolates hanging around work. I also had issues with finding ANY restriction in my band.

Things seem to finally be working out now. I have some restriction. I am VERY excited. This is the first time since being banded I FEEL like I have been banded. Took A LONG time to get here. I hope the restriction sticks around.

I am excited to put my band to the test for the holidays! =)

Hello Everyone!

My weight loss has slowed down as well. I think I've only lost 2 lbs since October. I am going in for a fill today and am going to make sure my doctor gives it to me. At first, I needed a little break from all the weight loss so that my body could just heal and bounce back. I feel like my body is firmer now. I am able to eat more, alot more. The last time I wanted a fill my doctor refused because he said I was losing at the right pace, but now if you let me eat a whole pig, I probably could. I don't have much restriction. And as my one year approaches I'm eager to hit my goal weight of 150-145 lbs. Wish me well today.

Kin

Hey everyone! It's been a while since I've checked in on LBT. I've been extremely busy with school. It's been 9 weeks since I had my band replaced due to a leak. October was really about me healing again so I guess the weight loss was on the back burner. I'm mostly healed and I'm getting back into my exercise routine.

It's definitely getting harder to lose weight. I really want to get to my goal of 160 by my bandiversary, but I don't know if I can make it. I lost about 6lbs right after surgery and have been bouncing around that weight for the last 2 months. I would really like to get into the 160s soon, and it's going to take a lot of focus. I need to really be careful about what I eat and getting in lots of exercise to get to my goal.

I'm finally feeling some restriction now and I'm eating less, but still enough to keep me from losing. I'm hoping to get to my sweet spot to get the weight loss going again.

With that being said, I am extremely happy and grateful about my weight loss so far. I have never been healthier! I have so much energy to do things and I enjoy exercising and I miss it when I don't! I can go shopping in regular stores now. I'm wearing a size 12 or 14 bottoms and Medium and Large tops. I've lost 80lbs since surgery and 145lbs since my highest weight in April 2007 so I really can't complain.

I can't believe it's almost a year since our surgeries...where has the time gone?

Keep up the great work everyone! Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Hi Everyone,

I am just making it into November updates! I am leaving Spain and will be back in Tucson midnight Tuesday Dec 2nd. I have an appoitment on Wednesday the 3rd at 10:20 to have fluid put back in my band. I had the port replaced in September and he took all the fluid from my band. It had been way to tight since my last fill in May, and I was vomiting a lot. The fluid could not be removed because the port tubing was kinked, so I had the port replaced and he took all the fluid out since I had to come back to Spain. So...I have had NO restriction since September. I am sure I have gained some weight, but I don't think a lot. My clothes still all fit and I walk alot. I have no scale here, so I won't know until I go home next week. I am kindda bumbed out that this happened because when I had the port replaced I weighed 169 down from 217 when I had it put in in January. I was hoping to be at goal by my anniversary, but now I have given myself until April. I would like to be 145-150 by then. I was up to about 6cc in my band, so I hope he will put at least 5 ccc back in on Wednesday. I think we will have to negotiate.

The good thing about being in Spain, no Thanksgiving! So I am sure I saved some calories that day. I am glad we are all doing well. It's hard to believe a year has almost gone by. We need to remember that even if we aren't where we want to be, we are better than we were last year at this time. So, it's a process and it's different for all of us, but we are all healthier and feeling better about ourselves. Diane

I did well on Thanksgiving, I was able to see the bottom of my plate! My family is concious of my diet and in fact prepared alot of the food in a healthier way. My parents dug out old photos of me because even though I am down 73 pounds, I can't see it. Well, holy shit, I saw the weight loss on Thanksgiving. I couldn't believe what I used to look like.

I go to the doctor on Friday, getting a complete unfill, as I have to have a colonoscopy on December 8th. I have to do liquids 24 hours before the test. Then I go back to the doctor to get a refill.

I think that I have lost the pounds I gained so if I am back to my October number on Friday, I can live with that.

Its comforting in a way to hear that we are all facing similar problems, it just proves that we need to use the band as a tool to help us.

I'm trying to add my picture. this is Thanksgiving 2008. If is shows up, that's me standing in the middle... or at least 105 less of me!! wahoooo !!!

Nice Photo, looking good!