I am not perfect...but I am trying

[Manda_T]

I rarely ever post here anymore. I do lurk occationally, and am glad to see how well everyone is doing. The recent post regarding "cheating" has made me want to post to let everyone that has cheated know they are not alone.

I am one of the people that is struggling with my band and weightloss. I have not been perfect (sadly icecream does go down) but had I been perfect in the first place I would of never needed the band to help with my weightloss. I understand the band is just a "tool".

Everyday is a struggle, every moment I have to make the choice to eat the right foods, take the time to measure my foods, to follow the rules. But alas, we are humans and we make mistakes. We come here to express our feelings and seek people that understand what we are feeling. We belong to this group for many reasons, but the most important reason is to share trials and sucesses (mamamichelle).

Weightloss is difficult, we all know that, hence the reason we have the bands. We should be supportive of each other, not judgemental. The fact of the matter is if we hadn't "cheated" on all of our diets then we wouldn't be here.

On a side note, I was very discouraged because I had been struggling so much, my band had no restriction and I could eat anything. I had had 3 fills for a total of 3cc in a 4cc band. I ended up seeing a different doctor and in the end it turns out that I didnt have 3cc in my band, only 2cc. He believes that the last doctor missed my port. I now have great restriction and with restriction (the sweet spot) I am able to control my eating and most of my cravings have passed.

So even if you are not perfect, continue to wake up everyday vowing to do your best. And when you slip up, remember we are all only human. I wish everyone the best in the weightloss journey. And remember, if it was easy to loose weight, we wouldn't of needed the band.

Blessings to All,

Amanda

[julieburns]

Thanks for a very candid and timely post. The recent posts with mean spirited comments have certainly done their damages to those who let them. This is America and unfortunately no matter how hard the OCC tries to moderate this, people will be just plain rude at times. For those few who think a mean-spirited voice is the way to go I say have at it. Remember the old saying sticks and stones.... etc? For those of us with a heart then we need to be brave and just let that crap go in one ear and out the other, like water off a duck's back. Yes my expectation is to find support here not to be bullied. I am not saying that some tough love isn't necessary at times but there is a way to be tactful like how Lisal put it. We do all respond to different types of "help". We are free to pick and choose what helps and leave what doesn't.

[MamaMichelle]

Amanda, great to see you posting!

You are so right that everyday is a struggle and there are days we all make bad choices. I know many think that I am an inspiration but I have my bad days too, like yesterday my husband and son and I went to a local resturant and I got a small ceasar salad (good me) the boys got a pizza that came out wrong so they had to remake it, I ate my salad while they were waitng and finished it all before their food came out.

So as I sat there watching them eat pizza I decided I "needed" some too so I ate the toppings off one slice, oh it was so good that I had the toppings off another slice (bad me) this was the first pizza I have had since banding but that's not an excuse. I wasn't hungry I just ate it because it was in front of me, and it didn't make me full which tells me I need a fill.

Of course then they brought out a free brownie ala mode because we had to wait for them to rebake the pizza and I ate about 1/2 of that (really bad me). I realized I messed up so I came here and went to the web searching for tips to refocus me.

Fast forward to this morning, hubby and son wanted dunkin donuts and we were all out of slim fast so I opted to put a scoop of vanilla protein powder in a baggie and got a light iced latte that I added the powder to at DD instead of ordering a donut (which I know I could eat if I wanted).

So you see everyday heck every meal is a chance for you to make a good choice or a bad choice, I believe if you have more good choice days than bad choice days you will get to your goals!!

[GirlBarb]

Oh this can be a battle, I struggled with a platue of 180 for about 7 weeks. I exercised just about every day and ate right. Well I got my 2nd fill three days ago and last night was tough!! Hubby ate a big bowl of pasta AND I WANTED SOME TOO!

I resisted the temptation../God must have helped me.

The happy ending is that I weighed in this morning at 176. And pants that were tight two weeks ago are a bit hanging off my butt.

So hang in there and follow the rules....this tool is such a gift...use this gift when you can. And pray that we all get to our sweet spot so the journey will be easier (not easy) but easier!

Hugs to you all, Barb

[MamaMichelle]

Every day is a battle.You are right.I don't want to log on here though & see someone who has lost todays battle & see the advice that everyone is doing it.

The advice should read "suck it up & get back on your diet"

We all kow that misery loves company,but i don't think 20 more cheater stories as examples makes anyone think anything but everyone is cheating so it must be ok if i do it too.

I'm not looking for anyone to tell me what I did is ok, and I don't feel sorry for myself! I am sharing my example because I know what I did was a mistake and I told myself to "suck it up and get back on my diet" this morning and clearly that's what I did by refusing to allow myslef to be tempted this morning like I was the day before. I think offering up my example will help others who have also made mistakes see that they can make changes too...

[Dontondan]

I am so glad that I missed the drama by not being on line much this past week. We all have weak moments and it is a fact of life that will never change. I am glad that you got to your sweet spot. I think I am at mine also, but have not been losing as much as I would like (lack of exercise) as I have been so busy with other things and am off of my usual routine due to kids, etc. Can't wait for the kiddos to get back into school next month so I can return to the pool for my daily workouts. I have a kiddo right now that can't be safe in the pool area, so I have been staying away from the pool. Today I went out and got a Health rider and a Pilates machine so I can do some activity at home! My point is....if there is a problem, keep trying to fix it!

[cckcsharp]

I rarely ever post here anymore. I do lurk occationally, and am glad to see how well everyone is doing. The recent post regarding "cheating" has made me want to post to let everyone that has cheated know they are not alone.

I am one of the people that is struggling with my band and weightloss. I have not been perfect (sadly icecream does go down) but had I been perfect in the first place I would of never needed the band to help with my weightloss. I understand the band is just a "tool".

Everyday is a struggle, every moment I have to make the choice to eat the right foods, take the time to measure my foods, to follow the rules. But alas, we are humans and we make mistakes. We come here to express our feelings and seek people that understand what we are feeling. We belong to this group for many reasons, but the most important reason is to share trials and sucesses (mamamichelle).

Weightloss is difficult, we all know that, hence the reason we have the bands. We should be supportive of each other, not judgemental. The fact of the matter is if we hadn't "cheated" on all of our diets then we wouldn't be here.

On a side note, I was very discouraged because I had been struggling so much, my band had no restriction and I could eat anything. I had had 3 fills for a total of 3cc in a 4cc band. I ended up seeing a different doctor and in the end it turns out that I didnt have 3cc in my band, only 2cc. He believes that the last doctor missed my port. I now have great restriction and with restriction (the sweet spot) I am able to control my eating and most of my cravings have passed.

So even if you are not perfect, continue to wake up everyday vowing to do your best. And when you slip up, remember we are all only human. I wish everyone the best in the weightloss journey. And remember, if it was easy to loose weight, we wouldn't of needed the band.

Blessings to All,

Amanda

Thanks Amanda for posting this. I totally agree and appreciated your loving words of encouragement. Interesting that changing doctors corrected your problem and I think that's a good tip for everyone. If for some reason things aren't working, get another doctor to take a look. I am getting banded on the 29th on this month and will definetly keep this in mind when it comes time for fills.

Jessica

[Manda_T]

I'm glad this post was taken the way I meant it to, I want everyone to know that we are all human. I wish everyone the very best in the weightloss journey!

Blessings to All,

Amanda