Wow, I can't believe I am nearly seven weeks out from my first Bandiversary. I also can't believe how much I've struggled for the last four months!

I was doing so good for so long.. I was really kicking butt, then something snapped inside me and I can't really put my finger on it. Complacency? Scared? Uninterested? AADD? Cockiness? Maybe a little of all those things combined... but the fact is I need to make a change right here and right freakin now!

I had surgery for goodness sake! I don't regret it.. no not at all -- even though I have gained some weight back. Yes, I am at good restriction too. It's me and I know it. I'm not making the right choices. Why lie? If I do I'll just keep going down the same road.

So right here and right now I am openly going to set a goal in front of all my Vicotorious Valentines and claim I will lose one pound per week leading up to my Bandiversary date of February 11th, 2009.

I was all the way down to 227 for awhile then the "snapped" happened. So now I just need to "SNAP OUT OF IT!!!"

As of this morning I was back up to 253. :shades_smile: So I claim now that if I lose the minimum (so I have less chance of failing and giving up) of one pound per week, on February 11th, 2009 - I will weigh 245. So that is my goal weight for my Bandiversary.

No I am not going to hog up the spotlight here either. If you would like to set a goal for yourself for your Bandiversary, join me! I need all the company I can get.

Sheeah... and thanks for listening. LOL

Great idea and great attitude ... this is a journey and every step counts.

My goal is to be down a 100 pounds by my anniversary. That will be a stretch, but is doable.

I will strive to lose 10 pounds in the next 9 weeks. This will be a REAL S_T_R_E_T_C_H as not only have I stopped losing, I started gaining.....and it is all my fault. I have no one or nothing to blame but myself.

So maybe this is the time to make the commitment. Thanks LilMiss for starting the thread. Feel free to give me virtual kick-in-the-pants when I start to slide or mope.

I'm not gonna make a pound related goal for two reasons - can't decide what would be realistic and when I do, I sabotage myself and fail. So instead I will vow to get back to healthy eating, to get my calories intake back in line at about 1200 or less calories a day. That should let the pounds take care of themself. I also vow to get back to my daily exercise routine. It has really slipped and I have no excuse. I am on leave from work for 3 weeks and I have plenty of time for exercise now.

Yay! Love this thread. It's the optimism and group morale I need. Thank you all.

Hey ladies! Great goals -- all of them! Whatever motivates us I say... and I really need that right now.

I have also decided to go back to school (again) and this will really help to keep the food out of my mouth. Can't crunch and munch away in class, so that is two nights out of the week preventing me from doing that. Good deal!

I did make a deal with myself Ezma that I really need to get the exercise back too. I set my alarm for 3:30am every day. Now, before you say "yeah, right!" let me tell you I already get up every morning at 3:50am - so that's only twenty minutes earlier. :ohmy: I'm going to do my treadmill before getting ready for work. It will really get my metabolism going for the day, and especially since I've slacked on my power walks because it's waaay too cold outside right now.

I am also going to make up a list of approved foods. I am going to stick by it to a T!! :w00t: NO MORE SNEAKING ICE CREAM AND CHIPS!! Those evil demons keep haunting me... and I'm being a good little bandster right now as I drink my V8 and eat my banana.

Take care all! Let's hear it from some more... where are you Valentines????

Lil Miss, hang in there, Hon. You're on the right track. Sorry for what you've been through with the last four months. I know how hard it must be. You're stronger than this. We all are. We chose this amazing path and fighting it is only going to bring frustration.

Reading your post makes me thankful to still be losing. It's slow, very slow, but I'm grateful that it's not going up or even staying completely still.

My goal has been to be 100 pounds down by Christmas or New Year's at the latest. I'm two pounds away from that, so it's completely doable. By my bandiversary which is February 8th, I would like to be under 200 and in the Overweight category.

My exercise is the only thing that's keeping me on track right now. Well, that's not entirely true. I've been making good food choices a lot of the time. I'm still sneaking in chocolate and sweets way more than I think I should, but I'm hanging in there.

I plan on enjoying the holidays and having some of my favorite treats. I will never completely let go and forget about my weight and the band, but it's the biggest holiday of the year for me and food is part of the celebration. I plan on participating fully and also on working hard to not let it derail me for long.

For my exercise, I'm running 5K 3 times a week and doing an exercise video on the alternating three days. I take Sunday off. I'm very pleased with having been able to get to this point with exercise. It's one of my strong points right now. It's bitter cold so we just joined the local sports club and I go there and use their treadmill. (Don't have one of my own yet.) I really look forward to being able to run outside. I really prefer that.

I'm so glad for you wonderful people and your motivation and support. We can do this. We are strong. We are amazing.

Hey Shiny you are doing so great! Keep it up and never let anything distract you from your goal and you will get there. Slow is better so never get frustrated either.

I find that I have to do a little exercise of some type every single day to keep me motivated. Even taking a "day off" tends to lead to two or three or longer. That and weighing myself. If I don't do that I get easily distracted and I fall off course.

I'm going to do this, I'm not worried, I just feel bad that I allowed myself to fall off the wagon - but I'm climbing back on and it's moving too!

:biggrin:

Hi LilMiss & VV's MyBandiversary is the 12th so I am also looking at this past yr. and the hope for the year to come. Last year I was so sick and not able to do so many things that I can now do. I can tie my shoes, with the bow on the top. I can sit in a booth at a restrurant. I wear regular size clothes. I am going on a cruise in Jan. to Australia and New Zealand. Iwant to remember that I still must eat the way I have been taught. Iwill fly for the first time in years without a seatbelt extender. My prayers for the New Year are that I join in the support that has freely been given to me, and the journey takes you where you want to go. One more step out of my safety zone. Audrey

Aud, congrats on your successes so far! Isn't it just fantastic??

As for me and my new goal... doing great! :thumbup:

LilMiss and all the other VVs;

I have been at a complete and utter standstill for 6 weeks now. I am scheduled for my third fill on 1/6/09 and can't wait. My bandivsary in 2/27 and I was so hoping for 100, but don't think so. That would make me just overweight and out of this obese category.

I think that starting 1/29/08 I am going to do a 10 day liquid diet just like I did last year (just as a test to see if I could do it pre-op). I think I will do this every 1/1, but am going to start early this year to see if I can make my goal and keep the band in the front of my brain for a while!!

Good luck all and Happy New Year.

Hey New Year... no worries. I went through a really long bad spell. I'm finally breaking free from that! I've been waking up really early to make sure I'm doing my 5k at least 5 times per week, doing 30 Minutes of my Stationary Bike 5 times per week, Calisthenics 3 times per week and doing my best to eat good foods.

Still not perfect on the eating thing but hey.. who is?

Well just hang in there. It will happen...

I've lost 2.4 Lbs. last week. Not bad! 1.4 Lbs more than I said I would. I'm going to change my goal every single week to make sure I'm losing at least one pound per week, so now my Bandiversary goal is to weigh 242.6 Lbs.

Yay me! LOL

Well, I have lost 66 lbs. Not nearly what I hoped for, but I am really gonna kick my but in gear on the new years.

Hi Ready & VV's, Give Yourself a big hug for each and every lb. lost. Ready for you that is 66 hugs. WOW!!! A swift kick only hurts but whatever motivation you need for today's work I pray it is granted to you. I made it through Xmas and now have the New Year and a cruise to get through before I have done a full year with this little band. Our journey continues. Audrey

Thanx for the hope! I will too try to lose 10 more lbs by my bandniversary! It's great to know that there is other people that have my same problem and are willing to give me support thanx everyone!

I can do this. My date is 2/07. I have been playing with a few pounds for the last month or two. My goal is to lose 5 pounds by that date. That is do-able. Right.

I tell myself that I am going to start going back to the gym, and I hate going, and I know that is the only way to jump start this.......

5 pounds....5 weeks.....I can do this. I can do this. I will do this.

First, Happy New Year to all! :w00t:

Ah, the big "bandiversary", it's so amazing to me that I've come this far. This time last year, I was worried about the fast approaching surgery date. It seems like just yesterday!

I don't think I'm going to set a goal weight for my bandiversary, mostly for the same reasons as Ezma. I'm gonna do the same things - keep up my daily exercise, TRY and keep my calories below 1200, and (one of my New Year's resolutions) to join a fitness program -probably Curves, there's one so close to my home, so I have no excuse not to.

(Downer alert, I apologize) Sadly, right now, of the entire year of having my band, is my lowest point. I feel awful and I'm in tears over this "tool" for the first time. I know I shouldn't, but I'm beginning to feel like I failed at this. Yes, I've lost some good weight, and I'm happy about that. But I'm also in danger of gaining it all back. The reason? I have not now, nor really ever, found that freakin' elusive SWEET SPOT. If I have a goal for my bandiversary, it would be to have some good restriction, so I'm not hungry anymore. My strength and will power are sinking.

I've had some problems in the last two months - when I hit 6cc's in my band, I was too tight, and ended up in the emergency room unable to swallow, and I was vomiting. All 6 cc's were removed, to let my stomach rest. Over the next two office visits with my surgeon, he put back 3cc's, then 1.75 cc's (the second fill I think he was going slow, knowing that I seem to be sensitive with the fills). Then I messed this up, by getting a piece of turkey stuck on Christmas Day (of all days). I stayed stuck for 2 hours, the pain was awful. And I've eaten turkey so many times before, I know better to take small bites and chew thoroughly. (sigh) I made a mistake and swallowed to soon. The problem, after the turkey became unstuck, I continued to vomit all night long. I couldn't stop. I know this is bad for the band, so once again, I'm off to the ER. Some IV fluids and some IV anti-nausea medication later, I finally feel better. Still, when my surgeon got to the hospital that morning, he came to the ER and removed 2 more cc's of Fluid.

So . . . I'm approaching my bandiversary, I have no restriction, and maybe about 2.75 cc's in my band. I know bad times and complications happen with this band, I didn't go into this surgery blind, I did my homework. I guess you really don't know how hard it all can be until you experience it.

Thanks for letting me vent girlfriends, and I'm sorry this is so long. My problems haven't been eating or exercise, if it were, I would not have lost any weight. My problem is - I just can't seem to get in sync with my lap-band. I want my band to help me out a bit more. I'm tired of the hunger pangs. My husband says I should "just go ahead and eat", but I'm afraid. I desperately don't want to gain anything back. I'm scared that if I start doing that, it'll all come back, like so many times before. Maybe that's an irrational thought, but that fear has been ingrained into my brain for most of my life, it's hard to let go of it now. I did good over the holidays, I maintained my weight. I'm trying to focus on the positives like that, it's just hard right now. I want to lose the rest of the weight I need to.

(((deep breath)))... ok, still swimming and never giving up, it's just very tough. The uphill swimming is wearing me out. I need some motivation, a kick in the behind, a smack upside the head, or whatever it takes to get me in gear again. :confused:

Good luck to everyone on reaching your bandiversary goals! I know you can do it. Shinyhappymommy, congratz on losing 100 pounds! :cursing: Awesome work, and it gives me some hope that I will get there too. :tt2: Right now I'm just hoping I'll make that goal sometime in the upcoming year.