Hi everyone, I haven't posted in a while, but I'm back. Last April someone yelled at me because I posted that I wasn't going to get another fill, even though I could eat a lot, until I had lost some weight on my own. They posted back stating what was the point of having the surgery if I wasn't going to use the band to it's fullest potential. I was worried about filling it too tightly too quickly. Well, I waited 6 months before I got a new fill on 10/03/05 and am now at 2.9 cc's in a 4.0 cc band, and I finally understand what real restriction feels like. I want to say I never gained the entire 6 months, but didn't lose either. Now that I am back to having restriction I remembered why I got this surgery to begin with. My 1 year bandiversary is less than 1 month away and I still don't have a hng of this. Since I took basically 6 months off from my band, I had lost touch with the thought of losing weight. Now that I am tight, not only in the morn but all day long, I have lost 6 pounds since Monday. Which is a nice kick off to water weight loss.

Now that I have literally rambled for a paragraph my point was that even though we think people are being hateful on this board by not agreeing with us, if you are posting on this board you have our best intentions in mind, and even though not everyone has a kindergarten teachers way of explaining things, hopefully we can all learn from everyone's experiences here. I know I did and if you aren't getting your fills correctly then your band can't work correctly.

Thanks for listening to me ramble.

Yay Kim!! Great post. It's tough love here on LBT sometimes, huh? Lots has happened since April! Time for you to catch up!!!

It's a learning process the whole time, and you have a lifetime ahead of you to get your mind around banded life. No hurries. Sometimes you need to do things at a different pace, but the end is the same. Good to see you back.

You've lost 40 + pounds in a year and I think that's amazing!

sometimes tough love is all I will listen too, I appreciate the thought, and good lawk Kathy you are right about the catching up everyone looks so great in thier pictures!!!

Hey, even though you took six months with no fill - YOU STILL DIDN'T GAIN ANY OF THE WEIGHT YOU LOST BACK.

That, right there, is the reason that I want a band.

How many of us can say that 6 mos after we stopped following our "diet" we had not gained any of the weight back before being banded? I sure as heck can't...

So, Great Job, Kim! Good for you! Work that band, and it will work for you. You'll be another 40 lbs down in no time.

:]

Congrats on the weight loss. I am relatively new to this sight, so I wasn't reading posts when you were here before. I am glad you came back and have shared your story with us. It's important that we listen to everyone, even if they unintentionally hurt our feelings. I am suppperrrr sensitive and there have been times, reading other peoples posts that I got my feelings hurt, and they were not even talking to me!!! Yeah, I'm a bit strange, lol:-]

I think you're very brave to come back and share with us. And I truly agree with Rene in the response to your not having gained any of the weight back is absolutely wonderful!!!! That's a major accomplishment and never, ever put it down as nothing. Maintaining the weight loss is what it's all about. We have all lost weight before, but most of us can't say we were able to maintain, I know I couldn't.

And as for the person who 'yelled' at you, although I'm sure they were well intended, didn't recognize what a very personal journey this is for each and every one of us. Yes we need support, and yes we need others help and yes I love having everyone here to talk to, but my journey is a very personal and indiviualized one that only I can understand at it's deepest roots.

So hold your head high, celebrate your fantastic accomplishments and I hope to see you posting more. You can never have too many friends.

Cindy

it's amazing, wonderful, fabulous that you didn't gain back weight..

i'm so happy to hear this! when ever i lost weight before the band

i was gaining back ALL of the weight + some more!

your post gives me hope that this will never happen again!

i thought i was blasted to be fat for all my life...

Its so great that you listened to them though .. The ones who said it was so great that you didnt gain the weight back..

as I was struggling I was told that over and over (I didnt and arent gaining the 41 pounds I lost back) (I did gain 5 at one point though)

But all I heard was "blah blah.. when can I lose more weight...

I am so glad your on the right track now!!!!!

You are so right Cindy, I love hearing the back and forth on this site. It can ease me one day and scare me another, but I can't believe I lived without it for 6 months.

Pink Mary, I just hope we can maintain as easily at 130 as we can at 230. We will only see.

Thanks, ya'll

Kim

Kim, I think that's great! If you took a break and didn't lose for 6 months, you probably mentally needed to do that, and now you are back on track!

Welcome back!

Amen! Girlie well said. Glad to see your doing fine