B2010

Do you find that you feel hungry on WW? I've done WW online before and am considering it again after my lap band surgery. Also - having started with a lower bmi - do you feel like lap band was a good decision for you and that it truly is helping with losing weight?

Can anyone explain to me what the difference in getting a smaller or larger band is? I haven't had surgery yet, but have a lower bmi (32) so I'm curious to know why the preference over one or another

Question - if anyone knows - are we allowed to bring our own pain medication across the border if it is prescribed in our name? I have hydrocodone from a previous sinus surgery in December and they are still good.

" I know that I am smaller and that I have lost weight and yes I can see it, but I just see smaller version of the overweight me, does that make since? Good Luck to you! Carrie Carrie- This comment really touched me Carrie. It reminds me of a time in my life when I had lost more than 50 lbs and had gotten down to a size smaller than I had ever been before. I went clothes shopping at the Gap to buy a pair of jeans. upon trying jeans on and seeing that I had gotten into a size 4 - I went up to the counter asking the sales clerk if the jeans in the Gap run large because there was no way I was a size 4. the guy looked at me like I was crazy.....I realized that I was talking to him from the 200 lb me and not the 130lb me that this guy was looking at.....he never knew me when i was fat - I call this "fat head" when I'm fat in my head and not fat in my body. The first step to overcoming this battle is really mental. I wish I had the will power I had back then because I remember literally talking to myself everytime i would have a "fat head" moment - when my inner voice would tell me - people are looking at you, at how big your butt is, how you don't deserve to eat this, how you're ugly....all the things the fat head says to you to keep you from really seeing you for who you are now. you've accomplished a great deal - Your husband of course loves you no matter what - my fiance tells me the same thing. But until you and I both start dealing with the battle in our minds we're never gonna get over the battle of the fat head - so we gotta make this a conscious effort to get our minds where they should be.

Thanks Unfortunately we don't have many in Anchorage and the minute I've mentioned "surgery in mexico" I get the cold shoulder. any suggestions on how to approach these people to at least get some help?

I'm going to try and go to TJ at least for my first fill, but just wondering what kind of Doctor should I be looking for? What are they called? We have such limited options in Alaska that I'm thinking I won't be able to find one.

curious - why have your teeth gotten more yellow since lapband?

steve, I can more than relate to your post and having been on both sides of the weight issue at some points in my life I can say for myself I think it has less to do with how much I actually weight and more to do with the lack of hope that I feel as time goes on. I'm similar to you - I have obsessed with working out, eating low calorie to literally see the scale go up. I can literally eat low cal, walk/even got up to running at some point and still nothing budged on the scale. It's just the "hope" factor that you know no matter how hard you try you will struggle with each 1/4 of a pound that you lose and it's such an uphill battle that I've always just reverted to my previous way of life. I'm sure with Oprah "accepting" her weight. I probably could too if I had the luxuries that she does. She has beautifully tailored clothes, hair and makeup done beautifully everyday, a stylist, and other wonderful perks and benefits to increase her "feelings" about herself that many of us regular people just can't afford. It always feel better no matter what weight we are at to wear a nice suit that fits our body well and in turn I'm sure it changes the way we view ourselves. You can see this with brides - even plus size brides feel beautiful on their wedding days and probably feel an added sense of confidence knowing that even though they are large they still CAN be beautiful. for me deciding on lap band had to do with giving myself hope. I can force myself to exercise, try to restrict my diet, but I need the added tool to be able to have mind over matter when it comes to my weight. I want to know it's something I'll be able to live with and I know it will be there to get me over the humps of issues that have caused me weight loss failure in the past.

I have set my surgery date at OCC for 3/15/10. I'm just wondering if there will be anyone else going down around that same time? I'm nervous, excited, and anxious all at the same time. I'm not telling anyone except my fiance. He is very supportive of my decision because he knows how much my self esteem has been crippled by my constant battle with my weight. I know if I told anyone else in my family they would think I was crazy - so i'll wait to tell them until they see me losing weight and ask me how I'm doing it .