I've Had My Lap-Band for Five Years!

Can you believe it?

It's been officially five years since my Lap-Band surgery: October 20, 2009.

Let's recap, shall we?

I began my journey at 260 lbs.

Jeans size 24W. Bra size 42DD.

I lost 120 lbs in 14 months and got to my goal weight of 145 lbs on December 17, 2010.

Now I'm a size 6.  Bra size 36D.

You may be wondering: does it seem like five years since my surgery?

Yes.

Has all the hard work that I've done and continue to to been worth it?

Absolutely.

Have you been here reading since the beginning?

Hope so.

If not, checkout all of my old posts that date back to October 2009:  The good, the bad, the ugly.

It's all here for your reading pleasure. Use the search box on the left of the page. It's great.

I will now share with you what I have learned these past five years. I will also now be very direct and to-the-point. It's how I roll.

The Lap-Band does ONE thing for me:

My Lap-Band turns down the volume on my hunger. I am almost NEVER hungry. This is AWESOME. Thank you Lap-Band.

I can eat all foods.

Bread? Yes.

Pasta? Yes.

Rice? Yes.

All foods? Yes.

I can also eat as much as I want. Give me some time (45+ mins) and watch me down an entire container of Ben & Jerry's or three slices of pizza, but these are rare moments for me.

Here's the difference: I choose not to eat these types of foods most of the time.

Now let's stroll down memory lane. What have the last five years been like?

Year 1: LOSING PHASE: All about learning the rules of my new weight loss surgery tool:

• Learning that I need to count calories and proteins
• Learning that I HAD to exercise.
• Learning that the food that I brought into my kitchen could not be tempting or a trigger food.
• Learning portion control, portion control, portion control.  My Lap-Band has never limited HOW MUCH or WHAT I can eat. I learned early that portion control was UP to ME.
• Weekly weigh-ins - checkout my weight loss ticker at the top of the page.

Year 2: GOAL! Getting to my goal weight and learning a new thing called MAINTENANCE:

• Learning that maintenance is pretty much the same as my losing phase (everything listed above), except with about an extra 200 calories a day to eat. Not that much.
• Learning to still count calories and proteins
• Learning that I HAD to exercise.  Still.
• Weekly weigh-ins 
  

Year 3: Maintenance never ends - There is NO "DONE":

• Learning how to handle a job change and a move from Oregon to California and still stay on track with my food choices and making exercise a priority.
• AND: 
• Learning that I STILL need to count calories and proteins
• Learning that I STILL HAD to exercise.
• Learning to keep an eye on the food that I brought into my kitchen could not be tempting or a trigger food.
• Learning to keep on my portion control, portion control, portion control.  
• Weekly weigh-ins 

Year 4: Maintenance never ends - There is NO "DONE": Do you see a theme here?

• Same as above. Still.
• Always keeping up with my weekly weigh-ins

Year 5: Maintenance never ends - There is NO "DONE": Do you see a theme here?

•  Same as above. Still.
• Always keeping up with my weekly weigh-ins

Honestly, this five year milestone is a somewhat of a non-event for me.

I didn't even realize that October 20th was coming up on the calendar until yesterday.  Surprise. There it was on the calendar.

I've been told that the longer that I stay at my goal weight, the longer that my long term success and weight loss will be.

We will see.

I hope so.

I think that the jury is still out.

I know that if I do the work that I need to do and Lap-Band helps me with hunger, then I can continue to be successful at maintaining my goal weight.

Do you have a Magic 8 ball that I could borrow? I would love to have a peek into my future.

PS: if you want to see what I'm up to on a daily basis, then checkout my Facebook page.  I post pics, updates, and the occasional TMI over-share for you.  You're welcome.