Lap band removed and now back to struggles

[Ebonin]

Hello Everyone!

My name is Elizabeth and I am a single Mom of two daughters ages 8 and 6. I have always struggled with my weight loss and had the lap band placed 5 1/2 years ago. My starting weight was 254 and and I lost down to 175. My weight loss came from good eating choices and killing myself at the gym 6 days a week the first year. After that I maintained my weight but did not lose more. Of course I stopped working out too.

I had problems with the lap band from day 2 including dehydration, vomiting and acid reflux. To help with those issues I removed fluid from the lap band and maintained about 3cc out of a 10cc fill. Last year I began having horrible smelling burps and finally seen my surgeon after acid reflux medicine was not working as prescribed by my primary doctor.

August of 2014 I went into have a endoscopy and when I woke up my surgeon confirmed the band slippage, erosion into my stomach and almost complete blockage of my stomach. I was an aspiration risk, admitted immediatly and scheduled for surgery the next morning. I cried my eyes out knowing that I was going to face the nightmare of weigt gain and fighting obesity again.

I lost a lot of blood in the days following surgery through diffusion because my body had been so dehydrated. After receiving blood transfusions by blood pressure was too low and I was put on medication and steriods. After 3 rounds of steriods I gained 15 lbs and then put on weight from now having a full stomach and not controling my cravings and food portions. So the battle and nightmare begins!! Late Dec 2014 I reached 200!!!! My clothes don't fit, my face is fatter along with the rest of me lol and I refused to see 200 on my scale. I set my fitbit food goal for losing 2 lbs a week and journaling my food. I have been working out at home using 30 min Zumba, Jillian Michaels ripped in 30 challenge and Tae Bo Cardio.

My Mom bought me a fitbit for Christmas. I have decided that I am not going to turn to fad diets or miracles but do what I know works. I love that fitbit allows me to log my food/water/activities and tracks my progress. I know that I can do this and would love to have the support of others!!

I know this is a long post and thank you for reading this far if you have. I can relate to many on here and hope my story helps others. My first goal is to reach 175 and fit back into my closest full of clothes. My ultimate goal is to be healthy and toned. If that is 130 or 140 than great!! I am not focused as much on the scale as I am how I look and feel.

Feel free to add me and we can keep each other motivated with our activity, meal ideas, motivation and getting back on the wagon when we hit our hard times.

[Odyssey13]

@Ebonin  Thank you for sharing your story. You've been through a lot, but your determination and desire shines through your words.

You can do this. You are motivated and you're going to focus on how you feel rather than a number on the scale. This time, you've a huge community to support you.

Your mom gave you the Fitbit and now you get to see just how far you can take this. We're with you. Neer give up on yourself. You are worth the effort.

Welcome to the forums.

[Algenon]

Welcome!  Thanks for sharing your story.  It sounds like you have been through a lot. I considered some sort of weight lose surgery at one time and decided to get a fitbit as my last attempt before any surgery.  I think the main thing the fitbit showed me that it is not so much as the active minutes as it is the movement.  When I walked at least 10,000 steps a day, the weight started to drop off.  I spilt my walking into different times of the day and that helps.    I know everyone is different but  that is what worked for me.  

Good luck!

[carnegiemom]

Believe this or not. You have a greater chance of losing that weight now that the band is out then before. I have know a lot of folks who had proceedures and once the first year was over so was their weight loss. You hit a level and it is almost impossible to go below. Now your new journey will take you to the place were you want it to be. 

I want to reach that same goal. I'm struggling to lose the 20-25 lbs to get there. I've lost weight before but I usually sabitage myself as I get close to this amount to lose and gain it all back. But now this time will be different. I have my Fitbit to guide me the rest of the way to my new journy and keep me on track. Let's do this together.

[Lilac93]

I am very impressed with your story. About 6 years ago I lost 65 pounds. I had many false starts and stops before the last time when it finally worked! What finally worked for me - making very specific goals and tracking, tracking, tracking. Back then I did it all manually- fitbit really makes the tracking a lot easier( I just got mine about a week ago). I have kept most of the weight off by continuing to weigh myself weekly and having a "cap number" that when I reach, I start tracking again. There is not "finish line" it is about daily decisions. It took a major "mental makeover" on my part and I have always wondered if people getting surgery experince the same shift in mental state as someone who does it through purely diet and exercise. 'I wish you the best.

[carnegiemom]

I'm not sure about others as I have a friend now who had the lap band and is a diabetic and refuses to eat well and continues to eat sweets. She is very thin and could be much heathier but has not changed any of her eating habits. She just can't eat much but choses to eat junk food. 

It appears you are on the right track. Eating well and exercising. This is not a race but a life long plan.

Let's continue this road together.

[lyro]

Hi Ebonin!  Sounds like you are on the right track.  I think that your progress with the FB will be better than with the band and it will be a big plus that you won't have to worry about those horrible medical side effects.  I added you!

[Ebonin]

Thank you I seen you are really kicking butt in steps!!! That's awesome! What daily activities do you do to reach so many steps?

[Ebonin]

Thank you for your support. It has been a long road and as sad as it sounds there are times I almost want to go back to having bad health and be thin rather than struggle with the mental struggles that goes along with weight loss. But I am determined to do it! I am glad to have your support.

How are you doing on your weight loss so far? Struggles?

[carnegiemom]

This has been a real struggle. I get on the scale and it doesn't seem to make a difference. My clothes are still tight and I had given almost all of my bigger clothes away so I have no choice accept to get back into them. I have been working really hard on making my goal with a at least 10,000 steps a day and working out as much as possible. It appears that my food might not been in the best ratio so I will makes changes tomorrow. But so far this week since I started I have kept below the -750 calories per day to meet my goal. Who knows why my body is not reacting the way it should. I'm not going to let this keep me down. I'm going to use this as a learning tool and make adjustments as necessary.

[carnegiemom]

So far I've been walking a mile to the park in my neighborhood and a mile around the park and then a mile home 2 times a week. Then I spend 3 days a week in my home gym with free weights, a weight bench and a treadmil or eliptical. I'm working up to using my jump rope but not there yet. I have other items in the gym but this seems to be where I'm at. I also ballroom dance 2 times a week on Tuesday mornings and Friday evenings. I'm hoping to add Line dancing and a few exercise class next month when my husband retires. I would also like to start hiking. I have lots of ideas and hope to try them in the new year.

[lyro]

Hi again Ebonin,

My daily steps are a combination of just regular daily activity and exercise.  For exercise, I usually get to work early and walk for a bit (20-30 mins.) up and down the hallways.  If it is nice out, I will walk outside, but since it has been cold and nasty out, I walk in the house.  I will put on a couple of TV shows on nexflix in the evenings and walk up and back and sometimes jog in place too.  For my other exercise, I go to kickboxing class 2-3 times per week.  I just took my first spinning and TRX classes last week.  I like trying new things.  Once in a while I will also try a fitness activity from Youtube...there are so many to choose from...something for everyone.  Anyway, that is how I get my steps in.

[Willdoit]

At my heaviest in fall 2009, I was 275 lbs. I joined Nutrisystem (NS) around Feb 2010 and lost steadily and at a satisfying but healthy pace. I didn't tackle exercise for the first six weeks. Then slowly I started adding a few mins per day of vigorous activity. By Fall 2011 I was at about 180K. I think for about a day, I had lost 100 lbs but it was very fleeting. I did really well at maintaining (although I was really trying to lose) for the next two years. But in 2014, we bought an old house that I gave my attention to; and we were adopted into the neighborhood by incredible people who have become our friends and wine-buddies; and I've focused on work and now commute (about 3-4 hours in the car) each day. All of this has cut way back on both my focus and time for diet and exercise. Diet doesn't need much time but shopping and planning does. And of course, exercise requires time and for me, daytime time. Today, I'm 248 lbs and furious with myself.

But I'm trying to be forgiving. And to look forward.

For the past 3 days I've been super perfect on my diet and I've been exercising but not yet daily. I want to keep my expectations real. Work is very important to me and demands a lot from me. But I can curtail wine drinking. And I can stop snacking. And I can eat mindfully and focus on vegetables instead of carbs, fats and proteins. 

At the moment, I am using NS foods and dieting via this method that I know works so well and healthfully. I think given the fact that you don't trust your mind-body connection to regulate your appetite appropriately right now, I think NS or something similar, might be a good choice for you. It would tell you without equivocation that you have eaten a correct portion. Even if you feel hungry you will know that's it. Yes, you can eat more veggies to fill up. I'm a fan of eating baby carrots with mustard when I'm hungry.

I am also reading Eat to Live by Dr Furhman and I think when I finish that book, I may give his diet a chance just to have some variety in my diet. But I might decide to wait until I stall on NS before switching. Not sure yet. Fad diets, if they are healthful, can be okay if they inspire you. Most today are pretty healthy. Just beware of wacky sounding ones like the grapefruit diet or the milk diet. 

The other thing that helped me a LOT when I lost my weight before was journaling. NS has an awesome blogosphere and at the time I was losing, the community was rich with good people who really wanted to share and succeed. Whenever I had a tough challenge regarding my food, emotions, appetite, exercise, I asked the tough question WHY in my blog. Why did I want to eat after I cried at the newscasts regarding the earthquake in Haiti ? Why did I find creamy foods so emotionally satisfying ? Why did I want to rush out and have nachos and margaritas when my job ticked me off ? Why gets to even deeper questions. Why gets to the answers. 

Try to spend 10-20 mins a day writing in a journal. It can be on here if you write substantively and consistently. Or it can be privately in a handwritten journal. I tend to write in a MSWord document and save it day after day so I can see what I was feeling a year earlier or 3 years earlier.

I'd love to be your fitbit friend and encourage you, if you will do the same for me.

You don't need the lapband. It betrayed you.

Prove to yourself that you can do this thing with the power you posess within ! Keep focused forward.

[Lilac93]

I also started out on Nutrisystem for about 6 months- I took what I learned there - which was basically portion size, eating lots of small portions throughout the day rather than 3 big meals, having only healthy low calorie foods as an option to eat- and community. I agree the NS community was bar non back then. But NS cannot be a way of life forever- it can be a great training tool, but any program is only as good as you are- you have to set specific goals and follow them- I don't know how many times I got frustrated with people on NS that would say how guilty they were about "cheating" the diet and then be compleatly shocked at weigh in time when they gained.  Just some thoughts...

[carnegiemom]

During my lifetime of losing weight, I have tried NS, weight watchers, Jenny Craig and all the others you can remember. All I know is that I spent money on gyms, food. pills, etc. What I find is that they are not realist and that is why you gain the weight back. Weight watchers are the only one that uses the idea of cooking for yourself. I was not very good at weighing and measuring. I like cooking for Skinny Girl and use that as my guide. I try not to use any diet type of food such as fake butter or cheese. I use reduced fat but not fat free.I always use real eggs as I have never heard of anyone getting fat because they ate an egg.. I feel that anytime you don't make you own food you are setting yourself up to fail once you stop eating those foods. I think it is more important to find a way to cook and eat healthy with the foods you have at home. 

Going back in history, folks were all thin because they ate only simple foods and no of them were processed. NS and all of the others are processed with lots of chemical in order to keep them to have a shelf-life. This is how I lost the first 30 lbs.  I know this last 20 will be the toughest but I think seeing my steps and calories burned gives me hope the pounds will slowly come off. This is not a race. The slower it comes off the better and the better chance it will stay off. I'm not perfect but work towards not punishing myself when I have strayed. Life has so many challenges.

[Lilac93]

I agree that no matter what program you try- eventually you have to learn to eat without a program. I think you can do everything on NS yourself and have no need to pay the high cost for a program- but I will say for someone who had been overweight for at least 15 years it was a good training tool for me to learn what a portion is supposed to look like and how to be very mindful of what I eat. One thing I know that has kept most of the weight off for me after 6 years is continuing to weigh myself- so many people reach theirgoal and put the scale away- to later learn when going to the dr. and such that they gained 20- 30 # without totally realizing it. I have a "cap weight" and when I reach it, I start tracking again.

[carnegiemom]

I now have a cap of 5 lbs and I'm trying so hard to get it down again.,  What a struggle. I get so frustrated when I get on the scale and it doesn't move or it goes up even when I've been really good. I find that my clothes are the best way to judge. I'm glad that those programs have worked for you. I was not so lucky with any of them. I did my best work when I started cooking with Skinny girl and making better choices.

We will do this and hopefully for the last time. EVER!!!!

[Lilac93]

There are no easy answers- when people I haven't seen in a while ask me "so what is the secret to your weight loss" - I reply "hard work". A lot of times I see their faces fall a bit- they are looking for an easy answer or some "trick". I really feel like it boils down to setting specific goals, acountablity ( tracking food weighing in), Support (blogs, boards, friends),  LOTS OF FOLLOWTHROUGH, and review & Renew your goals (there is no finish line, keep improving/ or renewing old goals)

Any "vehical" you use to get to the point where you are self monitoring is only going to be as good as you are commited to it.

Sometimes 5 pounds can be harder than 50- persoanlly I am up 20- and although I could easily say "well at least its not 200...I know how slipery a slope that is for me and will not allow it to go higher without fighting the good fight!

[carnegiemom]

I'm so glad we are going this together. Fight the fight. I agree there are no easy ways to get this done without putting in the work. It just doesn't happen. Today, I was not able to show all of my steps as I had to charge my unit and I was not able to track my steps during that time. I was not able to make even my lowest number of steps due to that. I will have to find a way to make charging my unit at a time that will not interfere with getting the most results in for the day.

[Lilac93]

I usually charge mine about 1 hr before bed- we usually watch an hour of TV before going to bed, so not getting many steps in then anyway. My fitbit has sleep tracking so I like to have it on then. SO far an hour once/week is plenty