Needing some encouragement

I just wanted to wish you well on your journey. Keep a positive attitude and try to relax. This is an exciting time for you and with that excitement comes some nerves. Its normal!

I was banded in mid-November and I'm loving my band. You're right...it is only a tool, but, for me, if I use the tool correctly, it works just great.

I wish you much success and an easy pre-op. All the best!!

Hi OzzieGirl - thanks for your post.  I see you had your surgery about 1-1/2 months before mine - I had mine 12-30-10 and am down (only!) like 25 pounds since then...it seems that a lot that post here are like down in the 30's, 40's, etc by this time out but I see we are running pretty close to each other, which makes me feel a bit better (if that makes sense - ie:  normal) - I lost 14 pounds the first two weeks which I am sure is a lot of water weight as I drank mostly diet coke up to that point, and have struggled with losing once I integrated food back in.  Need to plan a bit better on my part, but am definitely down in the calories a lot compared to what I was eating beforehand.  I know that this is an "aide" to guide us and that we still have to do the work - we have to learn to get rid of the head games and let the band do it's job which is to help limit the amount of food we eat at a time...thanks for sharing your thoughts.

 Hi Sharon - The 28 pounds are all post surgery. I'm ok with the weight loss and so is my surgeon and nutritionist. I am taking in very few calories and working out like crazy (at lease 5 days a week doing 1 hour of cardio and 30 minutes of strength training). I attend WW meetings even though I come no where near to eating the points I'm allowed. Honestly, I can't really do much more than I'm doing.

Eat dense protein first, then veggies/fruit, then carbs. I still don't have the drinking down, but every day I try. Take your vitamins and calcium, that's important. 

And yes, this is a huge head game!! The head hunger is the battle that we must fight every day. At least I know that if I ate my protein, then it is head hunger, so.....get busy with something else!

Keep in touch!!

Dina

Hi Dina - gosh, you are working out like crazy chick-a-dee!  I have NOT been doing that - some "walking" but nothing major...I've had a major prob with tiredness due to some high stress issues in my life, and just can't hardly function sometimes...I thought when I quit eating so much sugar and crap that it would help my energy level - nada!  So I know I need to start kicking some bootie and at least get the walking in daily...I try to walk a bit at lunch here at work but it's not like anything but leisure really.  I'd like to keep in touch since we are "close" together on our time - I will send you a friend request, okay?  thanks for the info/update on yourself and all the fun stuff that goes with the head games!  I really need to get out my paperwork from the NUT and work with it, I haven't really done that (yet) so can only fault myself for the slower weight loss + inactivity.  I have a mini trampoline at home, collecting dust, that I need to start using and I bought one of those walking dvd's to check out...maybe I'll lift a leg or two in the near future?  I think I'm gonna have to just do it, no matter how tired I am...might shoot for the a.m. before shower time for work and see if that might kick-start me off...wish me luck!  Keep on going on!

Deanswife,

To answer your question, YES....It is normal to feel the way you are feeling! I was a mixed bag of emotions for a LONG time and just could NOT wait for the day to come. I cried when I was approved because I was so hopeful for ANY help!

So, here I am....a month away from my 1 year SURGI-VERSARY and I am VERY happy at how I did this year. I am not perfect and I know that I will never be but I DO make better choices (mostly), I DO eat MUCH smaller portions than I ever had and I AM a success! I don't compare myself to others because this is our own individual journey. YOU CAN DO IT!! Stay positive and plug along! For me to be down 68 pounds, 41 inches and 3 pant sizes in essentially 9 months...I AM PROUD!! I can breathe when I bend over to tie my shoes, I am not taking the meds I used to take and I am sleeping better and am more confident!! Wow, in only 68 pounds..imagine the changes at my 100 pound mark!

I should add that I have NO FLUID in my band for the last 4 months because I was getting stuck ALOT and you know what? I STILL have restriction...albeit a very fickle band! I want to get another 30 pounds off and I will be done with my losing journey but I know that I will need to keep this motivation for the rest of my life. I will admit, I have to clean up a few of the bad habits that still haunt me (i.e. sweets) but I am a "work of art in progress".

This band will NOT do the work for you alone but it WILL be your constant reminder (hammer to head) that you HAVE to eat differently. It is manageable and it is a great TOOL!!

I wish you the very best. Those people who continue to be negative with the band are trying desperately to knock down our "happy walls" because it didn't work for them. Just ignore them, they are not worth your time or energy. Stick with the positive suggestions and comments.

I welcome you to the LOSER's BENCH soon!! Please let us know if you need anything or have any questions in your journey! This is a fresh beginning for you!

Conchita

I just wanted to make sure that I let everyone know that I have done my research and I chose the band.  Not my surgeon.  I went to his seminar and he spoke about the band, RNY, DS and sleeve.  I chose what I felt was and is right for me.  I am fully aware that the average weight loss is around 65% of the excess weight but I have spoken to and been in support groups of his other band patients who have been very sucessful and lost 100% of their excess weight.  It's a tool.  It's all about how  you use your tool.  I am planning to use my new tool (Feb 23) as portion control and motivation to not be the same size I today. 

I am not scared about the surgeon nor am I unsure if I am doing the right thing.  I tried 4 yrs ago to have RNY and was denied by my insurance company so I have wanted this for a long time.  I'm glad I was denied.  The surgeon I had then only did RNY and I was uneducated about any other procedures.  I know what I am getting myself into and I am over the moon happy about it.   Feb 23 can't get here soon enough. 

The band is a great TOOL.  I'm sure you learned that before banding that it is only a tool.

I love my tool.  Sometimes I use my tool as directed and some times I am not perfect.

Listen to the sane posters here.  It's not easy to figure out who is sane and who is not. 

When reading replys, listen to those you know can "help" you, disregard the loonies.

Best wishes.  It's a great tool.

Sandra

How about listening to ppl that have been successful and made it to goal???

50 pounds? in 2 1/2 years???

 I just want to reiterate what a few others have said.  Can you "fall back into old habits and .... not see results"?  Absolutely.  That's true for any attempt at weight loss, whether with any of the available surgeries or any *other* way of losing weight.  But the band can give you a boost to help you remain focused, and to eat "right".  I can't tell you how many diets I've been on in my life that had these rules: "Eat slowly.  Put down your fork between bites.  Chew well."  Common sense says that if you slow down eating, you will eat less.  The band really does help with that, and it *reminds* you when you don't.  

But, the most important thing I can say to you as a pre-op is this:  You must know you can and will succeed.  There will always be someone who will doubt you, or who will put obstacles in your way.  If you fall prey to that, you have to be strong enough to be your own best advocate (which you've shown already).  Staying positive and focused on achieving your goals is so very important to getting there.  Regardless of what anyone else has to say, what *you* tell yourself can be a huge factor in your success.  I wish you well!

I am around 16 months out and can rememer the week before my surgery like it was yesterday. I was the scared to death and thinking I had lost my mind as I got closer to the surgery date. I started doubting everything I had learned etc,,... I had been close to approval for an RNY 4 years earlier but stopped the process at the last minute. So I recognize your worries. The OR nurse had to come and hold my hand when they were putting me under ( and I am a nurse LOL) because I started to cry!!

Your process is completely normal and I am glad you reached out for support. I am sorry for some of the yuck that got said on here because it was folks doing battle about their own stuff and didn't seem to have much to do with you. They are all entitled to their own opinion but I know you asked for support so I hope you can hang on to the commetns that were intended to lift you up a bit.  I love what my surgeon told me about operating on my abdomen and not my head. I still do battle with my head almost every day, sometimes it is easier and sometimes not. I love this site becasue I feel like folks can really get that and give me/us advice that helps.

 All the very best to you as you near your life changing day.