FLORIDAYS

If your Dr suggest them to get your levels normal I do not think I would omit them from my diet. Maybe if you walk, shop or ride a bike for about 30 minutes it would off set the calories. I only take a multi...chewable gummies which are 15 calories.

Unless there is a medical reason for taking Fluid out the mindset of having an unfill to take a break from the band makes no sense to me. Why would we want to risk gaining the weight we already lost? Of course everyone's personal situation is just ...that but for me until I am at my goal there is no way I will disrupt my progress with a band vacation. Now that my goal is in sight I do wonder how to live with the band once I am at goal but I am sure that is something my Dr and I will discuss when the time comes. Until then....no rest for the weary is my mantra

water..... thats pretty much all I drink. Its not exciting but I find nothing else hydrates me like water. And let me tell you I drank 4-6 diet cokes every day for as long as I can recall.... It was a tough sacrifice for me.,... but I did it.

I would say one implant it enough and the barbell doesnt help you lose weight.... I wouldnt risk it....

Not sure what machine you are talking about. My Dr doesnt use such a machine during his procedure. In fact I have never been hooked up to any kind of lap band machine that I know of. I was 377 lbs and stand 5"10 with no health issues other than morbidly obese. My BMI was 55 and I smoked. My Dr never questioned my ability to lie on the table or make it through the anesthesia. He did however instruct me to not cheat on the 2 week liquid because he really needed my liver to shrink so he could see what he was doing during surgery.

Today is my 1 year (I know tomorrow is the actual date but I was banded on a Thursday so I am celebrating today...LOL)...... Like so many others on this thread we have come so far so fast in the grand scheme of things;. My Dr told me it would take 2-2.5 yrs to lose 217 lbs. yet I have lost 147 in a year. So I am thinking the next 70 shouldnt take another year. Finally the number doesnt seem insurmountable anymore.

For me it was simply about needing a tool to lose and keep off the weight. I knew I could lose weight (sort of) as I had lost before on diets but always seemed to have given up after 40, 50 lbs because I was board or hungry. I felt that with the band I wouldnt be either. And it turns out I was right. Its been alot of work but I am so close to goal I am sure this was the right move for me. I didnt want to go drastic with the sleeve by mutilating my stomach. I researched the band and that made the most sense to me since I liked the idea if anything went wrong it could be removed. I have an employee who had the bypass and has had over 15 surgeries to correct issues and problems. That scared me to death. Since the sleeve is new I didnt really want to be a test mouse.

That is hysterical and a little creepy at the same time. But I say what ever works! I havent named my band an actual name but I borrowed the lyrics from a Jimmy Buffett song and call it my Permanent reminder of a temporary feeling. Best of luck to you and Roscoe!

Just becasue we may have a card... the restaurant does not have to honor the request. Most servers have no idea what you are talking about. I find it more comfortable to pull the manager aside and quietly explain my situation. I have done that in the past and was always offered a reduced rate. Of course there are often times when I just order an shrimp cocktail and a dinner salad....

Funny you say that... pre band I ate at least 1 meal a day while driving. Since being banded I have eaten a Fiber 1 bar once for lunch when I was in a hurry.... other than that the only eating that gets done in my car is driving to work in the morning drinking my sugar free instant breakfast.

I have to agree with you here....I followed and continue to follow my Dr.'s orders to the letter and 1 year later I have surpassed his and my expectations. I had the gas but only for a few days...other than that my surgery and recovery was uneventful. To say the past year was without struggles would be untrue however I always refer to my Dr's words on my very first visit as a reminder.... the band will do 70% of the work. To be successfull you need to put forth a 30% effort.

What a year..... Thursday will be my 1 yr banding anniversary. I am down 147 lbs as of this morning. I have officially lost an average sized woman.. LOL. I am still losing at a nice clip so hopefuly by early spring I will be at my goal..... 60-70 lbs to go.,... depending on which day you ask me. My last fill may have been a little tight as I am getting a whole lot more restriction...but maybe this is the green zone and I just didnt realize it. Either way, I am not starving, I am healthy and loving watching this weight fall off.

I started the same day you did....the day before Thanksgiving....with the same Dr last year! I was banded on 12/9/10. Its been a wonderful year.... I am down 144 lbs today and Dr A has me coming in every other month now.... Best of luck to you!

I lost 22 lbs

Every day.... like someone else said... not weighing myself daily led me to get 200lbs overweight....

Even with a BMI of 55 my insurance wouldnt cover my band. SO I decided to sell some stock and become a self pay. It was THAT important to be and I believed in the procedure. Since I was a self pay I seriously considered going to Mexico. MY husband and I did the research... It would have cost me about 8k including air fare for my and my husband to go. The hotel was paid for my the Mexican clinic. I called 7 Drs in central FL and not ONE would touch me for fills. The only place I could get a fill locally if I had a mexican band was to go to a USAfills type of place. The fills were $125 a pop. Here in the states I interviewed 3 Drs who did the procedure at 3 different hospitals. My Dr of choice had a "deal" with the hospital.... his fee, hospital stay, pre op testing as well as pre op Optifast, 3 months of free post op visits including fills for 6 months was 10k. 5k upfront then the hospital allowed the rest 5k to be paid with no interest over 2 years. I did the math...thought long and hard about the comfort of my Dr being 10 minutes away and opted to stay home and be banded locally. It had nothing to do with the quality of work in Mexico. It was purely a financial decision over the long run. That said... after being banded 2 months and made 2 payment of $200 ea to the hospital they called me and said if I could pay the balance within 30 days they would slash it 50%. I scraped it together and of course took them up on the deal....All of a sudden my band cost $7500!!!

I lost 22 lbs in 14 days on my pre-op drinking liquid shakes (5 8 oz Optifast), Water and eating sugar free fruit popsicles (25 - 40 calories). 800 calories each day. Its only for a short time. You can do it!

I use the swiss mix sugar free /diet 25 calories pack as well...but I mix it in 16oz of Water to make a more filling snack...Yummmm

I was banded 353 days ago on 12/9/2010...but who's counting....and have lost 142 lbs.

I lost 22 lbs on the 2 week pre op diet but the amount is very individualized.... if you followed it per your Dr instruction you should be fine. Its all about shrinking the liver according to my Dr. I also think getting you used to liquid is an added bonus since you have 3 weeks of it to look forward to depending on your Dr instruction of course.

I did it before banding.... got board and starting eating again. The difference now.... I CANNOT eat the quanity of food I ate pre band. period ...end of story. I am at good restriction and just physically cannot hold more than 6 oz at a time in my tummy.

I am 2 weeks shy of being banded a year. Typically I eat 1000 calories per day. I have lost 140 lbs. I have 77 to go. I just finished 3 weeks of hell. 3 weeks of not seeing the scale move..... I tried to drink more Water....nothing. I upped my calories.... nothng. Today I got on the scale as I do every morning and I was down 4 lbs. We can disect it all we want...but I really believe the body gets comfortable and hangs onto weight as some sort of a security blanket. Then every once in a while when it doesnt need it....it will give it up. LOL Just remember you will loose weight if you expand more calories than you take in. that we all know is true. Eventually.

Except for 5 minutes in the 90s I have been over weight my entire life. And even then I was 13 lbs over what the "chart" says normal is for me. I am 51 years old so I have seen highs and lows, I have lost hundreds and gained hundreds pounds over the course of my lifetime as my first diet (weight watchers with mom) was at age 12! Certanly there have been highs and lows and in looking back I can actually recall the that even when I dieted I never stayed thin...which is way the lapband was the best choice for me. I can lose the weight...but after 6 months of dieting I would get board with whatever plan I was on and resume eating the way I did before I started the diet. And the weight creeped back on. My highest weight was 377....exactly 362 days ago. Thats the day I started the pre surgery liquid.... This morning I am at 237....140 lbs is gone.....77 more to go to get to what I believe is a good weight for me as I stand 5'9. Of course that number hasnt been seen since 8th grade I think....but we'll see. in 1997 I was the weight I was today so it took 14 yrs for me to pack on an extra 140 lbs.... and keep in mind there were several good 40-60 lbs dieting efforts in that time.... but it all came back Thankfully those days are now gone forever thanks to my band.

I only measure the caloric foods I put on the lettuce suce as chicken or tuna.... And the Kraft fat free creamy cesear is yummy in case you havent tried it.

take it to your local jeweler... he can sell you a clip on sizer until you are ready for a perm size change. Or you can be like me....who is currently walking around with gold yarn wrapped around my wedding rings. You can't see it but I have to remember to take off my rings when my hands get wet.... but other than that it works until I am ready for a permenant solution.