Tell Your Weight Loss Surgery Story

Good evening everyone! I'm new to the forum, and was banded on May 6th. Already I'm realizing that this is harder than I thought it would be, but I'm willing to do what it takes in order to make it successful. I'm looking forward to working with you, and am open to any suggestions that anyone has in order to help the process along. V

Hello all! I'm Kate, from Jersey (the first one) in the channel islands and I was banded 5th may this year, so only a few days ago now! Surgeon was the wonderful Dr Van den Bossche out of Southampton Spires clinic. Not certain what 'model' my lapband is, I've seen a few names bandied about, all my patient card says is 'large' haha. Like patient, like band, so it seems! I've wanted this surgery for years now, since I saw my best friend go through it 4 years ago under the excellent care of my surgeon (one of the main reasons I chose him) and she has since gone from 310lbs to 150lbs. Singlehandedly one of the most astonishing things I've ever seen was to see her shrink be…

Hi all, I just joined LBT today and I thought I would post my introduction. A little about me... I was an athlete my whole life...16 years ago, I was captain of the men's swim team. Unfortunately, once I graduated I stopped exercising, discovered beer, and blew up like a balloon. I have gained 153 lbs in the last 16 years and I am now obese and completely lethargic. I have decided to take back my life and stop the cycle of obesity in my family. I am doing this for my family as much as I am myself. It's time!! I am getting banded on May 12th. 2011, one day before my birthday! I can do this! I was an athlete once and I'm determined to be one again!! I am cur…

I am so EXCITED!!! My sleeve surgery is scheduled for July 5th!! Now I just have to wait two months, that kinda sucks, but I know so many had to wait so much longer than that so I shouldn't Bitch to much! LOL I used to think I was such a patient person... guess I was wrong! I'm just so darn excited! I'm going to drive everyone else around me crazy with my obsessing now! Wendy

Hi. I've been thinking about having the band for years. I just started seriously looking into it this year and went to a seminar and actually started my pre-op requirements. But as I read more and more on the boards I am seeing more problems with it. I hear every day of someone else going for a revision to bypass or sleeve from the band because of various problems. I had thought at first that well, I will try the band and if it develops problems or doesn't work I can revise. Then I started seeing posts from people having the band removed that had problems from that. Scar tissue and hernias etc. At least one I've heard of recently whose band is eroded into their stomach an…

Posted this in what seemed to be the logical place ... and which was the wrong folder. Moving it! Sorry for the blonde move. Hello. I'm Kate and I just got my surgery date last week (July 5). I am a 51 year old mother of five. My son died in 1999. I still have one daughter at home, the other three are married and have their own families -- I have four grandchildren so far. Like probably just about everyone else here, my weight-loss successes — and backslidings — were always less than impressive: I’d lose 50 pounds, gain back 55. Lose 40, gain back 60. Drop 20, find 30. Back and forth, up and down, two steps forward and three steps back. My biggest success was in …

Hi, I am so glad I found this site, very inspiring. I am new to BCBS, basic plan PPO. As soon as I receive my card, I will schedule my appt with my PCP to discuss lap band surgery. I am excited to began my journey.

I had my surgery on 04.04.11 and I have been at a stall for the last 3 wks.......HOW CAN I BREAK THIS STALL????? IT'S DRIVING ME NUTS.....HELP PLEASE!!!!

I am trying to decide and am doing my research. I know I need to loose weight, although I am happy with myself right now for the most part. I have had back surgery once and it still bothers me. I also have type two diabetes for the last 8 years, and my A1C is unde 8, but keeps increasing. I am now wearing size 28w. I have never been this large in my life. I have tried nutrisystem, weight watchers, and several liquid diets, and a few others over the years. My sister who is a nurse is dead set against me doing a surgery. Frankly, I am not entirely thrilled with the idea either since it is a major surgery. However, all of the other things are not working for me. I am tired o…

Oh where do I start. Like so many before me, I am extremely excited, nervous, and SCARED. It really hit me last night as I was reading a bedtime story to my wonderful sweet 3 yr old. I choked down the remainder of his story and kissed him goodnight. I finished up some last minute chores and got into the shower where I completely lost it, sobbing and everything. I couldn't imagine the "what if something went wrong". I felt like I was being so selfish. I don't have any co-morbidities YET. Why was I taking this risk??? I reminded myself I am making this change for him. I prayed and prayed and made my peace with God. I know He is in control. So, here we are tod…

I was banded on May 3, 2011.So far, so good, Going back to work tomorrow, I have all my protein powders and vitamins packed. Wish me luck!

I wanted to take a minute to introduce myself. My name is Michael and I am having my surgery Thursday. I cant wait to start this journey and am ready to start meeting some goals. I have been gaining weight since the age of 19 and will be turning 33 tomorrow. I was looking over some old pics of me during my childhood and I was underweight. I dont think anyone would have thought I would have weight issues ever. I have tried so many diets out there and none worked for me. I know they can work but none seemed to work for me. I never thought I would even quallify for this surgery and am still kinda suprised I am having it done. I am around 80 pounds overweight and thought I …

I am new to the site, but hoping to get some great support. My surgery date is June 13 and I am excited. I'm just getting my self mentaly ready for that change in my eatting habits. I have changed the grazing and chewing slow but still have some bad habits. So any advice will get greatl;y appreciated.

I had my surgery on march 15 and have lost 28 lbs. I just turned 18 in January so as a teen this has been an emotional and physical challenge for me. Everyday gets easier and every pound I loose makes it totally worth it. Im on soft foods now and have been eating alot of refried beans and cheese, egg whites, and turkey and laughing cow cheese. My taste buds have changed so much and I don't have as much as a craving for food like I used to. I'm getting bored of just those things and feel like there's alot more food I can be eating but I just don't know what. I'm currently in culinary school so cooking and baking isn't a problem for me. If anyone knows any good recipes allo…

Im sorry I havent been on here as much as i would have liked!! seems the world goes pretty much back to normal after a few weeks!! as busy as ever!! Im loving me at 10 weeks post op. I can't stop looking at myself. Im only 11lbs off what I was when I fell pregnant with my son. Its awesome!! I can't believe I have dropped 60lbs!!!! Im totally stoked!! Im scared to buy new clothes only because I dont want to have to do it again in a few weeks but I had to use a bulldog clip the other day to keep my skirt up!! Im glad the weather here in Australia is heading into winter because I want to wow everyone in summer when I strip off..not literally , My goal has only ever to b…

Weight Loss has been a terrible monster in my life. You see, I started at the tender age of 3 months at 25 pounds. I went through the cutesy, cuddly stages of infancy, struggled through school and high school with diets, pills, doctors, support group meetings, and the socalled programs offering nutrition and guaranteed weightloss in a snap!!! WRONG!!! Then there was college--I would see guys I liked, but they were not "right" for me. I was sooo embarrassed by my size, and the impression left in the workplace is still haunting me to this day. The stresses of growing up, trying to live a decent life with some pleasures and hobbies have been really challenging. When I…

I was banded a week and a half ago and am doing great. I went to dinner and ate the veggies in my chicken soup??? I didn't throw up. I was wondering if anyone has eaten good soon after surgery?

I posted this on the pre-surg forum as well. I ALSO posted this on my blog and thought it may be nice to come and visit lapbandtalk as well! I have been banded over 2 years. I started at 327 pounds and now weigh 159. I love my band. Sometimes those of us "old timers" can forget all the questions we had when we were newbies...so I tried to think of as many as possible. I don't have tons of updated pics on here, but you can always see more on my blog. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me. I am an open book. ------- Sometimes we forget when we were first beginning. Do you remember the first time you googled Lapband? Or the first time you logge…

Good Evening, Well I home from the hospital today. My sleeve was picture picture according to my dr. I will say the worst is the gas. I made a mistake yesterday and tried to walk it out instead of asking for help. Boy I regreted that. They doped me up pretty good last night. I woke this morning a new women. I am glad I am home no more of waking me up every two hours to check vitals and blood sugar. I am sore but nothing I can handle. I wil give one piece of advice if you are in pain let me know dont let get out of hand. I thought I could handle it. The staff at South Miami Hospital are the best and very caring. Well I thought I would make a small post. To…

Hi everyone. I've been semi-obsessively lurking here for a month or so. This is my first post. Yes- I'm really going to go into debt to pay for having most of a major organ removed. Electively. AND- I'm going across the border to save a few bucks. Sounds crazy. I'm not ready to share that news with very many people in my life. They just wouldn't 'get it'. I'm so grateful to be joining a supportive, understanding community here at VST. At first, I was hoping that Aetna would pay for my VSG. Their requirements are a BMI of 40 with a 2 year history, or BMI of 35-40 with comorbidities. I went through an application process and some testing with Dr. Kim, a well-regarded su…

Hi everyone! Very excited, yet anxious to be here! I am just starting working towards getting my surgery approved. I went to the seminar on Wednesday and have my first surgical appointment next Friday. Looking forward to getting to know everyone!

So, I am taking my mom and dad out for mothers day. I just sat down figurin I would order a clear soup and just eat the broth. Well, they do not have a single soup!!! Lol. It fugures, I guess this will be the ultimate test of my resolve. Lol

Hello all, I'm considering having my lapband procedure done in Mexico. Has anyone else had theirs done far from home? I would really appreciate your comments and or advice.

Hi Everyone, My name is Debra and I live in Australia. I have just turned 47 and had my VSG on the 20th April. I feel mostly great and I am 5 days into the puree stage of my diet regime. Prior to that I was fluid only and have been consuming 2 doses of benefibre in prune juice since I came outta hospital. Well, I have just now had my first motion in 8 days and it was sheer agony. I don't want to start on laxatives that will weaken my bowel and make it lazy, but nor do I want to experience this until I am on solid food and eating fruit and veg again. It is very uncomfortable after day 2, ( i am used to going every day) and excrutiatingly painful. I actually had to self ad…

Hi everyone I thought I would join your forum as I haven't had much joy on the UK forums. We are too small a country over here so there are a couple of people who answer every single forum post on the UK forums and so you only ever get one or two opinions over and over again! I got the band on the 26th and so far things are fine. I'm on day three of a liquid only diet. I have some questions for you all about how things are going but for now I will just say hi, read some posts and say thanks for having me! ronnia from across the pond x

Hello, I was banded June 2010. I have lost 71# in 11 months!! Yaaa! My surgery went wonderful, my fills were great, I had a wonderful staff to work with. My last fill was over 2 mths ago, I think I am at 6.5 cc. Just wanted to intro myself.

Ok, I was up at 5, told to be at surgery center at 6. Now it is 842 and my doctor has changed and the other dr has not even shown up yet! How rude. Oh .... He just showed up. How nice

Hey all, I am 19 and have begun seriously considering getting sleeved. A friend of my mothers just had it done and I have been talking to her a lot lately about the benefits and such. I had originally never thought about weight loss surgery... never once crossed my mind until a week or so ago when my doc mentioned it to me. Now that he did and I have found out about VSG, I am so curious for knowledge. I have been perusing this sight for a few days and decided to go ahead and make my own topic to gain imnput from you all. Do you all believe that 19 is too young to become sleeved? I know all that it would it entail and I believe that it will greatly improve my life…

I was banded May 3rd. Starting to feel better fom procedure. I am excited to start my journey to a new me!

Hello everyone I would like to thank the group for helping me with my decision to do the sleeve. I am not a big writer so I never really signed up just followed everyone on their journey from a distance and I am so excited with the out come of you guys!! I decided to do the surgery in Tijuana with dr betancourt and scheduled an app to talk about the sleeve and he scheduled me for this Friday the 13th!!! Good thing I am not superstitious!! I like many of you am scared and then excited. I am having some issues with saying goodbye to my good friend food. I am programing a goodbye to ribs and sushi and cake and Carmel corn is this normal? I have to do 3 days diet pre. T…

Hello.. My name is Crystal Denton and I am in the process of getting the sleeve.. I love reading people's success stories and getting tips and ideas and be able to get myself ready for the procedure. I am hoping to have the surgery done in august.. right now I am just waiting for my 6 month medically supervised diet to be done. I have a tumblr account.. its my online blog. Feel free to follow me on there and leave comments or ask questions!! I love the motivation! :] my blog can be found at www.crystalsjourney.tumblr.com Thanks Crystal

I just moved to Richland WA from Las Vegas NV. I had the surgery on Oct 30th 2010. I cannot seeem to find anyone in the area. Please help. Oh I started at 229 and I am currently 192- My surgeon in Vegas Dr. Teng says I am WAY behind in the speed of my loss but I am content.

Hi everyone, I am a 62 year old guy living in the UK and being banded on Monday 9th May. I have read a lot of items on on this forum but do not see many items posted from men.I am 300 lbs hoping to acheive 200 lbs. Are they any similar guys out there and how are you getting on?

My surgery has been approved! Tricare got my request on 5/5/ and approved me on 5/6! I am super exicted and feeling blessed to have a chance to change my life. I am hoping to have the band placed in June. Thank you for everyone that gave me well wishes from my previous post! I will keep everyone posted on my surgery date!

I am very very excited and nervous! My surgery is may 9th and im flying out tomorrow for El Paso..I am nervous to fly and nervous everything will not go as planned. I was financed through a bank and they are dragging their feet on getting the money to the doctor. If the money is not there they do not do surgery...HEADS WILL ROLL!!! lol. I am looking forward to the changes but ready to get them started. This is the first time that I will be leaving my children for more than a day! I feel weird about that as well...there are sooo many things going through my head. I had to slow down being on here as well because it was making me go into info overload. i am hoping t…

Hello! I just signed up for this site today thinking I may need some support while getting thru this liquid phase. My surgery is next Tuesday, May 10th and today is my first day of pre-op liquid only diet (800 cal/day). Since it's only 10:30 am I feel fine right now. :-) I started this process back in November and have lost 17 lbs so far. I am both nervous & excited about the surgery. Ok, that's my intro...thanks for reading!

Hello soon to be fellow bandsters, I am 39 years old and have battled weight issues my entire life. I have always been the caretaker in my family, even as a child. So I never did what I needed to do to take care of myself. It has been diet after diet with success here and regain there. It has just been a miserable cycle...so in November I decided that enough is enough. I began to prepare for my journey. I started Zumba classes so that I could get into a regular exercise schedule then I started weaning off diet soda and changing my eating habits. I then decided in March that I would seek out a surgeon for the Lapband. I have now been approved and scheduled for M…

I try my very best not to weigh every day but today I gave into temptation!! I got on the scale this morning and I was down from 242.5 [start of pre op diet last Friday] to 229!!! Yeah Baby!!! {2sweetnsugarland excuses herself and goes off to continue her happy dance!!} I am so excited!!! I have not been in the 220s since 2003!!! YAY for me!! I just had to share! Thanks for reading!

Hello! I am new to this and just started my liquid diet on the 4th. They found a hiatal hernia during testing but haven't heard that it will stop my surgery, that is scheduled for May 18th. I have to say, today was a bit hard on the liquid diet.... I was a bit emotional. TV, billboards, people at work... everywhere you look it's food! I do have a question though.... last night and today my stools have been almost like clay and settles in the stool and won't flush.... has anyone had that issue? It happened at home and also at work. I wish all of you good luck with our new journeys

Today starts the liquid preop. I woke up really stressing about this. I suppose I will see how te day moving granite goes on protien shakes.

I was reading up on the lapband last night and read that the average person only looses 45 to 55 % of their access weight with the lapband. I wonder if that's true...So in other words If i need to loose 100 pounds, statistically speaking, I will prob. only loose 50 pounds. That is discouraging to me...very! I hate to pay 14,900.00 out of my pocket plus go through surgery unless I would loose 80% to 100 % of what I need to loose.

I was just sleeved on April 18th, my starting weight was 237 pounds in October 2010, my weight before starting the liquid diet was 221.00, and 207 the day of surgery. I am now at 199 as of this morning. I was excited to see the ONE!

Hi eveyone!! I was sleeved on May 3, 2011 and I feel great!! I had alittle nausea and still have alot of gas, but other then that, I'm doing very well!! Hoping my recovery continues on this path!! No regrets!! I just came home tonight from the hospital, so I'm looking forward to sleeping in my own bed. My boyfriend at first was very upset to hear I want to do this procedure, but said he loved me no matter what, if I chose to do it, he would be supportive. On the way home tonight he had some many questions, he finally asked and I think he was just really worried and now that he knows I'm okay, he is excited too!! I'm very happy to continue on this new journey!! CHEERS TO…

I just moved to Richland WA from Las Vegas NV. I had the surgery on Oct 30th 2010. I cannot seeem to find anyone in the area. Please help. Oh I started at 229 and I am currently 192- My surgeon in Vegas Dr. Teng says I am WAY behind in the speed of my loss but I am content.

just got off the phone with the patient coordinator.. i got approved surgery June 7th! eeek!

Hi, I am waiting the 6 month insurance approval. I'm about half way through. I am scheduled either late July or early August 2011. I keep wanting to read more and more of what to expect, but there just really not too much information out there. Which is a bit frustrating, and I realize, what other better research but to talk with others who are going or have gone through the same journey. I'm so excited and nervous all at the same time, but not scared, if that makes sence. I hope to make new freinds here and grow with others in our new life. Talk to you soon! Felicia

I have been lurking around for some time now but decided I will join in and tell my story. I started looking into WLS a couple of years ago but at that time my insurance didn't cover it. In the fall my husband started a new job so a few months ago I called the insurance company and on the new insurance it is covered. I was so excited! I found a surgeon that I liked and went in for my exam and decided on the sleeve. I started my 3 month diet that was required for surgery and did a bunch of tests that were also required. Not too long ago I found out that my insurance had changed some of it's requirements. I had read on here about a lot of people who had gone to Mexico f…

I began seriously considering bariatric surgery in January2011. My husband and I went to an informational meeting with the surgeon I was considering using. Initially I was thinking lap-band but after this meeting, I quickly changed to vertical sleeve gastrectomy because you won't lose as much "excess" weight with the band as you will with the sleeve. Also, there is no foreign object (band) left in your body. So, the decision was made to do vertical sleeve. My husband was skeptical until we attended the meeting. Afterwards he was convinced and very supportive. My surgeon's office, Dr. Richard Shimer, sent the request to my insurance company (United Healthcare) to…

Tomorrow is the big day for me. May 4th, I will be banded. At times in this journey it felt like this day would never come, but here it is, just on the other side of the sun going down and coming back up again. I am scared, I am optimistic, I am worried and I am hopeful. It's been an interesting journey up until now and I can only hope that it gets better from here. May 4th, here I come

Morning all I am having a horrible week had my surgery date set and Dr consult and then a week before surgery I have to get chest x-ray , stress test ,more blood work and cardiac clearance , why wait till the last min???? I was on the way to one appt. and another nurse calls me and lets me know that I should have been on the way to another place at the same time I know I am a big person but still I am only one I took it out on the caller . Seems once your approved they wanna push you like crazy. Well I told her off told her I still have a life kids fiancee work ! I know you have alot of patients but the only one I care about is me ! Maybe I am changing cuz I never wou…