Weight Loss Diets/Surgeries

Wow! I haven't posted since Thursday! I was MIA for a few days. My deepest apologies!

I had my weigh in on Saturday. I'm supposed to be maintaining. Due to the endless amount of sugar I ate last week, I was afraid to go. But I weighed myself at home and it looked like I was going to be ok.

Low and behold, a 2.6 lb loss! How in the world does that happen? Well, I better be careful and not get too lax, because even though the weigh in was good last week, doesn't mean it will be good this week. And I actually haven't done the greatest the last couple of days. I better watch it!

On Saturday, I visited a friend that lives in Indiana. We were going to go to the beach. I've been friends with her since 7th grade. She is extremely overweight. She was very active in high school and that kept her weight down but since then, it's been down hill. She has gained a lot!

We've talked about her weight before and she knows I've done weight watchers. She insists she eats healthy. I know the truth. She really doesn't. For example, the only vegetables we ate on Saturday was guacamole and veggies for hot dog toppings.

I don't say anything about it to her anymore, because I've said it before. I also only tell her what has worked for me as far as "diets" go, but it just appears she is in denial.

Her doctor told her she needs to lose weight. She needs to lost about 120 lbs. The doctor then suggested the Lap Band procedure.

Without going into too much detail, I know that the lap band is when the doctor inserts a band around the upper part of your stomach. This allows the passage to the stomach to be smaller and doesn't allow as much food to pass through. If you eat too much, the food will get jammed trying to go into the smaller passage and you will get sick. It's a similar idea to gastric bypass surgery, but it's less invasive.

It's difficult to listen to a friend complain about things that you can help her with but she doesn't want your help! She is in denial. I have to let her figure it out for herself.

What diets have you been on in your weight loss journey?

I've done the cabbage soup diet. It lasted about 3 days! I did it as a teenager with my dad. He used to try all kinds of diets. I didn't even like cabbage back then!

I also tried a high protein diet. It's not at all the same as Atkins. It was a two week plan and each day it had what you could eat. We had to eat lots of fish, chicken, zucchini, squash. I don't like fish, zucchini or squash! I tended to eat less than I was supposed to because I didn't like the food. I lasted 1 week. My dad got gout on his foot!

Per gout.com..."So, what exactly is gout? We know that it’s a form of arthritis, but there’s a lot more to it. Gout is a painful form of arthritis that is caused by high uric acid levels in your blood (hyperuricemia). Gout attacks occur when excess uric acid forms crystals, causing inflammation in your joints that leads to swelling and pain. As your uric acid level rises, so does the potential for gout and gout flares. Over time, gout attacks can become more severe, last longer, and occur more often."

Anyway, I almost tried nutrisystem, but my cousin tried it and hated the food immediately. I joined weight watchers 3 times starting in 2000 and the last time, joining in 2007.

Of course, weight watchers works for me. It may not be the answer for everyone but I think it's an easy system to follow and you can enjoy foods you like and you don't have to eat foods you don't like (example fish!).

What has worked for you?