I don't know if I’m looking for advice or what. But here is my story.

I was banded in October of 2007; in the year that followed I got really sick from fills being too tight like 3 times. Finally in December of 2008 I had all the liquid removed from my band and have lived like that for a year now. I didn’t gain any weight back over that year until the past 2 months. L And now I’m so upset I’m almost back to the weight I was the day of surgery. My mom keeps telling me I have to do this for me. I can’t figure out why I don’t have the motivation to do this for me. I feel like if someone told me to do it for them I could, but since it has to be for me I struggle. The month I had my lap band my g/f of 2 years broke up with me, and I guess that could be part of the reason why I failed. I don’t know. After that break up I was in and out of unhealthy relationships until April of 2009 when I met my current girlfriend. And honestly I have never been happier in a relationship in my life; however I still look in the mirror and hate what I see. So I have to ask myself am I really happy? For once I’m with someone that loves me for me, every curve, every roll, every blemish, no matter what she is madly in love with me… so WHAT IS MY DEAL? Ugh!

I just called my doctor, I haven’t seen him in a year, I have an appointment on December 10th to get a fill. I wanted to go today but I owe him money and can’t pay him until the 10th.

Thanks for listening… sorry I was rambling, just needed to get some things off my chest I guess. Any advice or words of encouragement would be greatly appreciated.

EXCELLENT! I need a partner to talk stuff over with (I'm not good at support groups). If you're okay with it - you can email me at bracchus2001@gmail.com and we can keep in touch and motivate one another.

Randy

well i got my fill and i feel great! i had a wake up call though. they said at my last appointment in december of 2008 i was down to 237! i dont remember ever bein 230 anything! but any ways 2 weeks ago i was up to 270 and as of today i was 261! woo hoo! im sooooooo excited!

Good luck Stevee, you can do it girl!! Now if you find that the first fill doesn't give what feels like good restriction, here's what I would do... suggestions only but it's how I would tackle it.

Find a calorie counter web site like www.fitday.com, record everything and be HONEST. Aim to eat between 1000 and 1200 calories a day and make them consist of "bulky" foods, ie, meat and vegetables, etc which have a lot of fibre and will fill you up. This way, you will be able to get some use out of the band, even though it's not cutting your portions down to tiny sizes - you will still feel satisfied on relatively small portions of good solid foods.

Use this time to learn the difference between the body sensation of "feeling full" and "not feeling hungry". They are quite different. If you chase that "full" sensation all the time, you can still overeat when restriction is low, but if you seek "not hungry", you will find that you can live quite happily with smaller portions even when restriction hasn't really kicked in.

Try this trick:

Serve yourself a good healthy Breakfast, e.g. a poached egg with 1-2 oz of baked Beans. Lots of Protein and fibre in that, will satisfy the hunger craving but probably won't make you feel "full" - and only 150-200 calories!

Serve yourself a lunch of whatever your favourite "diet food" is, aiming for "high bulk/low calorie". Time yourself while eating. Chew very thoroughly and slowly, taking 30 seconds between each bite and then STOP after 20 minutes. Put anything left on your plate into the fridge and tell yourself "that's fine, I can go finish that later if I'm really hungry, I'm not wasting it..."

Listen to your body. You should find that while you don't feel full, you don't feel ravenously hungry either. You could finish the plate if you want to but it shouldn't be hard to just leave it for a while...

Then go do something else to distract yourself (go for a walk, do some housework, go back to work, whatever). After an hour or so, listen to your body again. Are you HUNGRY? If you really are, eat the rest of your lunch (for 20 mins again). If you're not really craving the food, leave it and tell yourself you can always finish it later.

Do the same with dinner... Eat for 20 minutes, chewing slowly and thoroughly and then STOP. The aim of this game is to get your body to recognise what it is like to "not feel hungry". Forget trying to "feel full", we're aiming for the band to give us self-control, not shut down hunger altogether. It is perfectly normal for you to feel hungry just before you eat your dinner. But stop and reassess after 20 minutes, and then again after an hour. If you are craving "bad" choices, make a promise to yourself that you will wait until AFTER you've eaten everything else on your meal plan for the day, in the 20 minute timings. If by the end of the night, you have eaten everything and really can't stop yourself, allow yourself a small taste but try not to go overboard. You should find it much easier to resist the temptation to overindulge if you've played this "game" with timing throughout the day.

When your body learns to recognise "I'm not hungry" and you can apply that to not eating food you don't really need, it is a wonderful feeling of freedom from the Hunger Demon who has been ruling our lives up until that point.

Good luck!

Edited December 11, 200916 yr by Fanny Adams

wow wow wow! where have you, fanny, been allllll my life. i hope everyone reads this post! u r a savior! so tonight was liquids, i had a v8 after my fill. then at 6 i had a cup and a half of egg drop soup. and a glass of milk. now im sippin water. i dont feel starving. of course i could eat but ill survive. you will be a big part of why i suceed this time! thank you so much!

just swinging thru for an update. i weighed this morning and i'm down to 256! another 5 lbs lost since my fill! woo hoo!!!!!!!!!!!

i dont think i really have restriction since he only added 1cc to the 2ccs i already had. but somehow i have tricked my brain into thinking that i have restriction! its awesome!

Whoo hoo, Stevee!! You're going great, mate! Remember - the name of the game is "not hungry" and if you've got enough restriction to give you just that little edge of self-control that you can stick to the plan, you're doing well!

This time round, you're going to make it all the way, I can feel it! :biggrin: