Paula Matuskey

I had my lapband surgery on 8/6, so I'm early on in the recuperation, but here's my sense of things at this point. I went to my informational seminar to learn about this process in November 2006, then spent 6 months clocking into a weight loss program, which was an insurance requirement, and then once I had finished that, the doctor's office submitted the paperwork for pre-approval by insurance. That was about May 15, 2007. At that time I weighed in on his scales at 297. I'm about 5'8". Today, I weigh in (on my home scale) at about 272. Before the surgery, I lost about 18 pounds, cause he wanted me on a liquid diet--which I changed, after consulting with the nutritionist, to semi-liquid, because it ended up being 2 months, and I knew I couldn't do it. As I was losing the pre-op weight, people were asking me, why band, if you can lose this way. But in my heart I knew that if I didn't, it would be very easy to slip up into my old ways. When I married in 1968, I weighed 136 pounds. By 1991, I was at 177, having lost 60 pounds once by low carbs, and 60 pounds by WW. The problem was, and I knew it all along, and WW really confirmed it, is that I have eaten in these last 16 years, to fill holes in my heart, and other sadnesses and stresses. As I am on full liquid diet until this Wednesday, when the dr. will hopefully allow me to move to "mushy," I'm paying particular attention to when I feel sad, and I quickly recall that that was when I would usually eat. Most of us with weight problems know, in the end, that lots of dieting issues are really psychological issues. And it takes a lot of mental energy to lose weight. I'm not out of the woods yet. I still have low moments, which I think I will fight a little better when I return to work later this week--I've never been good staying at home, and particularly when I feel pretty fit and otherwise fine. Having said all this, I think your exploring the idea fully before doing it is good. Because it is not a quick fix. It's a long term deal. When my husband accompanied me to the first seminar, he had been urging me to have gastric bypass, but after hearing about both approaches, we both felt lapband was right. But I admit I was the reluctant follower. He pushed me because my Dad died of congestive heart failure, and I was approaching 300 pounds. This is not easy, but then nothing worth doing is really easy. I just try to go one day at a time, knowing that in the end, I will be healthier. The one message I would leave you with (and one I remind myself of each day) is that this is not a quick fix, and you must be committed to make major changes in your life. For me, I didn't have a lot of choice, because as I am 6 months away from turning 60, my metabolism has slowed to a crawl, and nothing else was really working. Take care. Paula

I'm new today as well, having had my lapband done on 8/6 in Catonsville, MD. I'm really getting bored with the liquid diet, but have lost about 21 pounds since my pre-op visit with the surgeon. So I guess that's good. Paula