Hi Everyone -

My name is John and I'm 51 yrs old. Have struggled with my weight for years.....Have been over 300 lbs for the last 10 yrs. Reached my highest weight this past January of 337 lbs. HAVE HAD ENOUGH..........Currently I'm 312 lbs with a BMI of 42. I'm tired of the yo-yo diets........

A resent untrasound shows I have alot of Gallstones so I will probably will have my Gallbladder removed at the same time.

Currently seeing all of the Doctors/Nutritionist required by Aetna as I'm involed in their 3 month pre-surgical program. It requires monthly visits to my Primary Doctor, Nutritionist, a Personal Trainer and the Psychologist.

I am seeing Dr. Fielding @ NYU . I see Dr. Fielding on 3/25/09 and hopefully will get a surgery date which should be early May.

Can't wait to get past the surgery...............

Melissa, Hallelujah, and Amy, I am experiencing the same exact feelings! I am seeing a therapist who has been helping me with my decision to do this, and I've talked with her about my flip-flop feelings. She has dealt with other WLS clients and she said this is all completely normal. She also deals with addicts of all kinds and says that they sometimes go through the same thing before they make the decision to go clean -- just like that woman on Intervention. What my therapist suggested to me was to focus on all the positive remarks that people have about LapBand and try not to read too much about the negative. There will always be positives and negatives about everything!

So, I'm trying to focus on the weight loss success stories that people post on here, look at all their amazing pictures, and imagine myself as being thin! I'm going to be giving up refined sugar because I'm addicted to it, and it's hard for me to think about that. So, I just focus on the day today and try to make small changes now so that when I get to my surgery date it won't be so overwhelming.

Think happy, think thoughts, my fellow BANDitos!! :smile:

TXAmy and Hallelujah - You both are so right.........

To me anxious is good. That means I wrestled with my decision and am committed to succeeding, therefore anxious to get the surgery done so I can move on, lose weight and live a long healthy life.

Just got back from my PCP, gave blood for my labs, so I should have my medical clearance by Friday. I see the Nutrionist @ the surgeon's office next Monday and then they file with Aetna for approval.

My new Motto - Eat to live not Live to eat..........

Hey, John, our posts overlapped. I agree with your thoughts on anxiousness! Fingers crossed for your medical clearance by Friday! :smile:

TxAmy, I so know what you mean, and what a great analogy! Yesterday at Easter dinner with my family I was thinking I could have stopped eating half way through my 1st plate. But did I? No, I kept going, and not only did I keep going, I went back for seconds! After I was done I was so miserable. I kept trying to justify my actions by saying this is my "last supper" with family. But it is really scary because I know I will have to stop when I have the band or I could do some serious damage to myself if I don't. I really enjoy the taste of food (hmm maybe that's how i got where I am today??) anyway it scares me because I am always telling my self to stop when I know I should, but I listen to the little devil on my shoulder that says "but it's soooo good!" and it makes me wonder how I will suceed. Anyone else wonder about this as well?

TxAmy, I so know what you mean, and what a great analogy! Yesterday at Easter dinner with my family I was thinking I could have stopped eating half way through my 1st plate. But did I? No, I kept going, and not only did I keep going, I went back for seconds! After I was done I was so miserable. I kept trying to justify my actions by saying this is my "last supper" with family. But it is really scary because I know I will have to stop when I have the band or I could do some serious damage to myself if I don't. I really enjoy the taste of food (hmm maybe that's how i got where I am today??) anyway it scares me because I am always telling my self to stop when I know I should, but I listen to the little devil on my shoulder that says "but it's soooo good!" and it makes me wonder how I will suceed. Anyone else wonder about this as well?

The SAME exact thing happened to me yesterday!!! I ate so much I had to lie down because I felt sick from eating too much. And I also justified it as a "last supper." I totally was questioning whether I can succeed.

But we must have some belief that we can or we wouldn't be back on here the very next day, would we? :smile: There is strength in numbers. We can do this with each other's support!

Devil on one shoulder...LapBand on the other.....LapBand will win the day.

What's good about the lapband is that it's so difficult to "over eat" as you'll bring it up. I'm told you do that once or twice, you'll never over eat again as the pain and feeling is terrible.

I think the brain will get the message that we're full early on so we can control that feeling to over eat.

Remember - WE WILL SUCCEED.........

We can do it, yes we can, we can do it with the band!

GOOOOOOOOOOO TEAM!!!!!!

We can do it, yes we can, we can do it with the band!

GOOOOOOOOOOO TEAM!!!!!!

LOVE IT! :smile:

Oh yeah, we're going to succeed! (yes, we will indeed, 98 3/4 percent guaranteed)

I think we're the best month, don't ya'll?

Yesterday... that was hard. My boyfriend got my daughter her easter basket stuff and I specifically said "don't get a lot of candy, I want to get her more exciting stuff - a book, a movie, some jewelry or something"... so what does he get her?

Gummy worms, a huge bag of reese's Peanut Butter cups, cadbury eggs, and a HUGE foot tall chocolate BUNNY. (And some non-candy stuff, but not much) So they were all walking around the house eating candy and then talking to me with their chocolate peanut butter breath, and my boyfriend said "can't you just have ONE?". I said "sure, I can have ONE. Then tomorrow what, will I have ONE again? Then the next day it'll 'just be one'"??? I think he felt bad then. He just wants me to be happy with myself, I know.

This makes him look unsupportive and he isn't, but I think he had a weak moment. Blah. I am glad I didn't give into that.

I was thinking about every day going into the bag and getting about 5 of the Reese's and bringing them to work for the people here at work. Then slowly they will all be gone, and between the two of them they will think the other is eating them. Hahahahaha. :smile:

TxAmy (aka Dr. Suess) reese's Peanut Butter cups, oh man they are my favorite! Well that and snickers, and peanut m&m's and and...

Yeah, I think this is the best month, not that I would have complained if I would have had a date in March or April, but then I wouldn't be a mayo bandito with all of you!!!!

What a fun group. I love reading all the post and feel much better that it's not just me having these feelings. I've lived too long like this and I can't do it anymore. So I do know that this is the right decision for me. I just flip flop a lot.

As far as my "last meal" is concerned, since I have been approved every meal has been my "last meal". But I have started to incorporate the chewing and chewing and more chewing to try and get use to that. Chewing to a pulp is really hard.

I had my EKG today and will have my lab work tomorrow and then I have my Barium swallow on Thursday.

Hallelujah got it!!! That was totally Dr. S.

I wouldn't have complained about March or April either, but our group seems pretty awesome so far. So, I am happy where I am.

Without my Reese's. Those aren't even my favorite but it's been a couple of weeks at least since I have had chocolate so it sure sounds good...... Man, had I only known. I should have had some chocolate! Meem, have some for me!!!

This is so sad, but I am only posting to see if my weight ticker has been added correctly.

Hey, TxAmy, are you on liquids for a full 4 weeks before your surgery? How are you doing?

OMG!!! I need some 8 year old to come over and teach me how to use the computer. Spider Solitarie and e-mail, that's about my skill level... Ann, I tried!!!!

I got my approval letter from Cigna on Good Friday. Called my surgeon and got a date of May 15 for lap band surgery. It has been a long time coming. I am so glad the wait is almost over. yeah.:thumbup:I have a cardiac stress test scheduled for this Fri. Wish me luck, I really hate stress tests, but if I can live through it again , I should be able to survive anything.

Congrats and welcome to the May BANDitos group, Bmooney!

Meem, it's not full liquids thank God. It's 2 protein shakes a day and 2 small meals of lean meat and green vegetables for one and 1/2 cup fruit and yogurt or something like that for the other. It's not too bad - the first 2 or 3 days I swear I thought I was going to DIE. I was miserable and grumpy and hated myself for being in that position...... but then my head realized my stomach wasn't actually HUNGRY, and I kind of got over it! Now I feel better than I have in a while! I think I worked all the processed crap out of my system and started to focus on something other than eating and it's much better. Which reminds me of another post I want to make so that I don't hijack this thread.......

But thanks for asking!!!