Hi Alyssa,
I was banded in Nov of 07 and I thought that I would be skinny by now. I'm finally more than half way, but it has been slow. I have just started losing again after a seven month plateau. So I know how frustrating it is.
First, I found this site called,
Five Day Pouch Test, it is for bariatric patients who have had a bypass, but I have found that it helps me if I'm eating too much or have gotten stuck. It helps shrink that little pouch we have left. It also gets you to start eating more protein,which is what we need. Take the benefibre for sure if you go on this five day diet. A lot of protein will bind you. I always lose at least four or five pounds on this and it isn't hard.
Also, I've been told that although I may not be hungry, eat five small meals a day. One could be a few nuts and some fruit or a yogurt, it should always have some protein in it. This helps our metabolism not slow down as others have mentioned. I think sometimes we don't eat enough. And I stopped drinking protein drinks. I was using them as a crutch and they aren't real food. I now have oatmeal with some nuts for protein in the morning, and I have no problem eating that.
And try to start doing some simple weight lifting. I started doing a program that took 20 minutes and didn't even make me sweaty, called
Strong Women Stay Young. She's changed the program slightly, but I started doing the seven weight moves three times a week at a low weight and I'm up to ten pounds now (from 3) and I'm sure that it has helped me look thinner even when I wasn't losing, but it has given me the start of some great arms and shoulders. My stomach will be better when I can see more of what's under the flab!
I also started walking on the treadmill at a pace I could cope with and now I am started to run for 30 second intervals. It isn't much, but it is getting me to push myself out of my comfort zone even for a minute!
Keep up the work you are doing. I can't tell you how I felt when I stepped on the scale and saw the 20's! I actually looked and saw 229 and cursed, because I thought I was at 239, I've been in the 30's for so long. When I realised that I was below another milestone, I was doing a happy dance for sure!
My next goal is the teens.
We are all here trying to help each other.
Mary
