First Year Bandaversary

21lbs lost is great.  Just think of how much you would have gained if you were not trying to lose.  If I could just lose 20 lbs per year and not gain I would be happy. 

Thanks! I am trying to focus on the positive and some serious self talk so that I won't be negative.

You are right, half a pound average a week is not bad if it's going down and not up!!

You can do this!!!!! I am 3 1/2 years out. I was a slow looser too! I would weigh everyday and nothing would happen. My freind was losing weight like crazy. I would eat just like her and it didn't work for me. That is the beauty of the band it will keep on working no matter how long it takes to get the weight off. I have finally lost 83 lbs. I lost 50 the first year and then a little here and there and you get frustrated and you get mad and eat crap. I know all about it. You just have to keep trying new diets. We will be on a diet the rest of our lives. People say that is why I got the lab band so I wouldn't have to diet anymore. WRONG! We have to constantly make the right decision what to put in our bodies. It's not fun but being overweight sure isn't fun. It's misurable.
I got the Jillian Michael's whey protein shakes vanilla. They sell them at Sam's/Walmart. They are 17.00 a can. You will need 2 big cans. I put 1 cup of ice a handful of strawberries some splenda. 1 cup of water 2 scoops of the powder and a big squirt of the Mio water enhancer Peach/Mango and add a small greek yogurt 100 cals. I have a Ninja blender it is the bomb go and get you one at Sam's. These shakes are so good it makes 2 huge glasses full. I drink both glasses through the morning and 2 more for lunch and through the afternoon. They fill you up and they are deli****he secret is the protein!!! I didn't realize that the more whey protein you drink the more the weight will come off. My friends husband had surgury last August and he has lost 77 lbs. He is a man but that just makes me jealous! Why can he just drop weight like crazy. I asked him what he was eating and he told me about the shakes with the greek yogurt and just eat a cheese stick and a few pretzels in the afternoon and eat a healthy choice meal for supper and eat an Atkins bar before you go to bed. You will be satisfied. We started a wellness program at work. We walk a mile before lunch and a mile around 3:00 on our 15 min breaks. It works girl!! Try it and if you want to do more exercise you can do something early in the morning or after five.
Google Visalus shake reciepes. They have 100 ways to make a shake. I don't like their shakes but you can use their reciepes in the Jillian shakes. I would join weigh****chers or have a friend weigh you to keep you accountable. Someone to keep you motivated Weigh****chers has awesome meetings to keep you on track. You need someone cheering you on!!!! Go girl you can do it!!! Hugs Renea

You are so great to write such a detailed reply!! Thanks so much!!

I know that basically, I fell into some "stinkin thinkin" and started eating anything I wanted anytime I wanted.

I know now that my lapband is truly just a tool. No matter how much my doctor and his staff told me that pre-surgery and post surgery, it just didn't stic****il now.

I like shakes. I will give your recipe a try.

Yes, men can lose faster. I have a friend (man) whom I know from work. He has lost over 100 pounds in about two years. To this day he still drinks a shake for breakfast and one for lunch and eats a sensible dinner. He says that because he has so much restriction and has to eat so slowly, that he has to do the shakes due to his job and lack of time to eat. He is a school principal and on the go constantly.

I thought about WW, but just don't want to add one more thing to my schedule right now!

You have done an awesome job and you should be very proud! Wynell

I really appreciate your post at 3 and half years out because where you were at 1 year is me and 80 is where I want to go.  I do find that most nutritionist etc. include way too many carbs in a diet plan for me to loose.  I really have a significant problem with carbs and know I need to focus on protein more.  I think it is important for us to realize, we may not call it a diet, but we have to have an "eating plan" that we follow the rest of our life if we want to avoid obesity and all of the ills that go with it.

Your reply was very motiviating for me.

Ditto to what all of the other ladies said...21 pounds is 21 pounds!  Honestly, from your avatar, it looks like you started smaller than some of us.  Thats another reason that we cannot compare ourselves.  The closer I get to 200lbs, the more my body fights me.  I hate it! 

Im not into tracking things but I know that many people are.  I am constantly using the scale...not only to weigh myself but my food too! I have my food scale on the counter most of the time and if I dont, I use the 1 cup ziplock bowls on a regular basis to keep my in check!  I should seriously be on a commercial as much as I talk about how helpful they are to me!   My hubby and I started using coffee saucers as our dinner plates to help as well.  I saw that you keep away from white breads...but try to watch ALL breads and sugar.  Carbs are hidden everywhere.  Just because you CAN doesnt mean that you SHOULD.    Good luck!

Dear Ashley,
I started at 246 which is the heaviest I have ever been. I was a thin child, think teen and thin as a young adult. For me to gain over a hundred pounds was devastating!! It didn't happen over night. It happened over years of neglecting myself, putting others first, a divorce which knocked me to my knees, and 17 years of rasing a son by myself!

By the way, my avatar picture is very flattering which is why I like it. It's from far away and I look thinner than I was!! A side view would have been more accurate.

Thanks for your encouragement! Everyone has been so great with their replies. My new focus is on the positives in my life and the wonderful people that I am meeting on the boards.
Keep up your hard work. Keep helping others. A friend at my meeting tonight told me that she has the following affirmation posted on her wall above her stairs:  "Alone or not, you still have to walk ahead."
Wynell

Happy Bandiversary!!Way to go perseverance, I hope your apt went well with your Nut. Do they have support groups you can go to? Join us on our St Pat day WL challenge or add your daily meals to our "what are you eating today". I hope year 2 is easier for you, good luck!!

First, let me say that your avatar makes me happy when I see it!!

I had a fairly good appt with my nut.....(liking the abbreviation more and more) She is a tall, pretty, very thin "girl" who has never had a weight problem. I was very surprised when she couldn't offer me more information. When I simply asked for a sample daily menu plan, she was stuck. Hmmmmmmmmm We finally eeked one out.

Long story, short........I do know what to eat, I just put in somewhere on the back burner and don't plan well. I need accountability.

She did suggest joining the MyFitnessPal.com which I did last night and love it! I was keeping a hand written notebook and having to look up every food.

Thanks for all the encouragment. Wynell

I had hoped to loose 80 in my first year, but I have only lost 40 and seem stuck.  See the nutritionist, but like me, you probably already know what you need to do.  Keeping a food journal really helps because it stops you from eating.  I tell myself, "when you want to cheat, you skip the journal which I have done for awhile now.

My band is very tight now.  So, at meals I can't eat too much, but as some people say, it is easy to fool the band with chocolate candy and other such "sliders"   I am guilty of that.

It is so much easier to give advice than to take it.  My sugeon gave me a notebook with the diet guides etc.  If you can, start over as though you just had the surgery and do all liquids for a few days and then ease back into solids like you did last year.  That will help you get going again.

I am hoping that next week, my husband is going on the Atkins Diet again which will help me loose weight again as well.

Hang in there, if it were easy, we wouldn't have gotten overweight and obese in the first place.  I celebrate that I am no longer obese, just overweight.