Vanilla sky

I did not have this happen to me but something does not seem quite right. I would talk to someone in the office about this, usually the assistance get paid under the doctors fees and so on. Contact your insurance company too and make sure the surgeons office is not double billing.

Allison0927, my tummy tuck was $6500 breast and arm lift was $8000 and I just had a bilateral leg lift that was $4500. It was worth every single penny! I can't even begin to tell you how much better I feel in my own skin now.
Danielle b thanks for the tip I am sitting on a cloud of pillows and u were right the butt incisions are the worst part along with the drains i have incisions that run down to my knees but u cant even see them and it actually lifted my lower legs too.
All in all the pain is not bad and completely controlled by pain medication and I am only needing a half dose.

I wish you much luck on your procedure. Lots and lots of rest....and lots of pillows Just be careful not to move around too much and pop out any stitches....are you going straight home after surgery? Make sure someone is there to help you out of bed, it helps. Also try and keep legs elevated...your incision under your butt cheek will be the worse, mine was very swollen and uncomfortable. Just remember....it is only about 14 days of discomfort!! Day 10 my stitches were so tight, I was crying...surgeon removed half of them and that was soooo much better. Keep in touch with your doctor for any concerns that arise. A lot of people have problems with this surgery....I had no complications just lots of discomfort...guess I was lucky. Good luck to you...and keep me updated throughout the next 2 weeks, I will be here if you should have any questions

I just wanted to give you all an updated photo of my inner thigh lift and lower body lift....I am 4 weeks post op and I am loving my results so far!! Just thought I would share......

Ditto I could not have gone through this journey without Christ on my side!

Ditto I could not have gone through this journey without Christ on my side!

Ditto I could not have gone through this journey without Christ on my side!

I agree! I am able to eat anything I want I just don't. Big macs and pizza are what got me to needing the lap band in the first place.

I Don't Want to Be Too Religious Today!! Must Must Share a Thought and Be Mindful of My Lap Band Group!!!
THANK YOU LORD FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE!!! I WILL CONTINUE TO WORSHIP YOU!!!! My weight is coming off and I feel and look more fabulous then I ever could have thought!!! Please Please Please Continue the negative inspiration!! I might be on the Sports Illustrated Magazine soon!! I will post a picture when it Does!!! My God is Good all the time!!! Oh LOVE ALL OF YOU FROM THE BOTTOM of MY SKINNY HEART!!!!!!!!!!! I'm so full of Love Today!!! Go Lap Bandsters!!!!!! When all else fails God Never Will!!!

Keep On No Matter What the Results can be Amazing!!!!

It seems to me there is a lot of misunderstanding out there when it comes to restriction. Over and over, I read post after post of the following statements:
"I have had fills but can still eat whatever I want"
While some people do have issues eating certain foods, there is absolutely no truth that you shouldn't be able to eat foods like breads, Pasta, and rice. If you are following a low carb diet that's one thing, but being banded doesn't mean you shouldn't be physically able to eat them anymore. Many of us can still eat absolutely everything we ate before surgery.
"I have had fills but I can still eat more than 1 cup of food"
This may be true, however, just because you can eat more than a cup of food doesn't mean you should. More often than not, if you eat slowly and stop after eating no more than 1 cup of food, you will find that you are satisfied and no longer hungry despite the fact you could still physically eat more. Quit trying to test your band to see how much you can eat, because the only one that will fail the test is you, not the band.
"I have had fills but I don't feel full"
Big misconception- the band will make you feel full. Wrong. It's true some people do feel full but it's a different full sensation than we had before banded. In fact, it's almost uncomfortable. The band is not supposed to make you feel stuffed full, it's supposed to make you feel satisfied with less food for longer periods of time. If you keep getting fill after fill because you don't feel stuffed full, you are going to end up one of the many people who have bands too tight and slips as a result. Being satisfied means you are no longer hungry, not that you feel as though you just ate a seven course Thanksgiving dinner. Quit trying to feel full and start listening to your body because it will tell you when it's satisfied.
I encourage everyone to educate themselves on the Lap-Band, what it does, and what it doesn't do. Too many people are walking around banded completely ignorant to the facts and I fear many will have complications and slips because of it. It's your body, take responsibility for educating yourself on it.
Be well all

I have lost 64%!!!! Even I am shocked at that number!

I have lost 64%!!!! Even I am shocked at that number!

Cazzy, I have been there I have lost over 200 pounds had plastic surgery and will have my legs done in July and I cant for the life of me understand why I wasn't critical of myself when I was over 300 pounds like I was when I reached bellow my goal weight. The only answer I have is that being that big I was dead inside I didn't care about my self and when you don't care about yourself you can't even be critical of yourself and thats worse. When I started caring about myself that was when the critical part of me came out (critical towards myself) I had to realize that my self worth didn't come from the way I looked or the # on the scale that kept me in bondage my worth came from who I am in Christ. :-)

Cazzy, I have been there I have lost over 200 pounds had plastic surgery and will have my legs done in July and I cant for the life of me understand why I wasn't critical of myself when I was over 300 pounds like I was when I reached bellow my goal weight. The only answer I have is that being that big I was dead inside I didn't care about my self and when you don't care about yourself you can't even be critical of yourself and thats worse. When I started caring about myself that was when the critical part of me came out (critical towards myself) I had to realize that my self worth didn't come from the way I looked or the # on the scale that kept me in bondage my worth came from who I am in Christ. :-)

Peoples reactions to my amount of weight loss have been extremely positive, its my reaction that has been less than positive at times, its wierd that i have all these positives in my life now i have lost weight and yet i still have days that the positivity leaves me. I have a wonderful DH and plastic surgeon, who took 9lbs of skin off me and yet days can still be filled with self loathing over the state of my body and what i have done to it over the years. You solve one problem and find another to concentrate on, i dont know if its due to the amount of weight i lost but once i lost the weight, then my loose skin was an issue , i get rid of 9lbs of skin and now the skin on my legs is annoying me, once i have them done next year i am sure i will find something else to concentrate on, i am sure the others who have lost weight and had plastic surgery know what i am talking about. I am not worried about friends or family's reactions anymore i am more concerned over my reactions to me, why wasnt i this critical over me when i was obese ..
Some of living with this weight loss is about the emotional changes not just the physical, i would have to get out of my life anyone that wasnt supportive to me as i just wouldnt want that negativity in my life ..

I hesitate to write this .........but as I read some of the post on here I can almost pinpoint who is going to make it and who isn't. And it is all about attitude. The folks who post asking how can they twist the rules to eat something that is not on the pre or post diet. The worry about the liquid diet parts. I don't mean to be a smart a$$ but come on thats why every diet we have ever been on has failed we cheated, we ate what wasn't on the diet then we figured we blew it and we might as well eat.
I want to say look your Dr, PA, Nutritionist, Physch, know what they are doing your paying the big bucks why not just listen to them and try to follow the rules just like they gave them too you.
I try really hard to be kind but honestly it isn't always easy, guess I am a TOUGH LOVE kind of Lady. Some folks can sugar coat things but we all got FAT doing the things we wanted. THe band is a tool, sometimes you get hungry, No one ever died from hunger carrying around 100 extra lbs. The band opens the door to control , but you have to still walk through it . It's a gift but you do have to unwrap it.

Are you Prepared for the Consequences of your blessings? I just want all old bandsters and new bandsters to know that the more weight you loose and the healthier you get! There will be consequences for your blessings and you must be ready for it!! I have learned that this is and will be a life changing event!! This is not a miracle cure for weight loss but it is and can be a blessing in disguise! The dictionary states that a blessing in disguise is: something that at first appears to be bad or unlucky but is actually good!!



And if you are not prepared for the consequences that follow this weight loss journey!! This can be a very negative event! I have heard many say that they feel that that the Lap Band Failed them. You must have faith, because if you have been a victim for so long and have had many bad experiences anything that good the follows it may appear to be a threat!!



But know that those who have been through hell and back this could be a major revelation for you!! Learn to be prepared for the consequences of your blessings!! People will envy you, not be supportive, even hate you!! But find family and friends that support you and hold on to them!!



The trouble with weight has not come to break you, its a test to make you stronger!! Its almost like a open book test the questions are located in the back! of the book! No reason to fail! You just have to do research to get the answers!! Its a Test!! None of us can fail because the answers are there!! God will never give us test that we are not prepared for!! You must learn how to do research on this Lap Band Weight loss so we can pass the test!! Failure is not an option!!

You are right! We can all learn from others failures and successes! Many people on this site have had great sucesses and have lost over 200 lbs. It is not easy, life is not easy. It is not always fair, but life is not fair. Some folks fail, and some have failed lapband. I don't know why some lapbands seem to fail. Is it human error or manufacture error?? Either way, there is a failure and some folks just take it as another failed diet. I am sorry for that; but if they are forum followers, as I am, they will see that there are far more successes than failures. Thank you! Karen

I have lost 64%!!!! Even I am shocked at that number!

I have lost 64%!!!! Even I am shocked at that number!

There is a great article that was written by Dr. Simpson about restriction in banded people. Basically he says that banded people do not go into starvation mode or metabolic syndrome because our pouch allows the hormone that regulates satiety in our stomach to be stimulated quickly since it is in the upper part of the stomach. So your brain is fooled when you eat very little because the hormone is stimulated as if you ate enough to fill your entire stomach, therefore since the brain is fooled,
" starvation mode" does not kick in for bandsters. Here is the link. Very interesting!
http://drsimpson.net/newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter/March-2010-Lap-band-surgery-newsletter.html

I actually spoke to my nutritionist about this a couple months back after a ton of debates about this on here. What we call "starvation mode" in terms of dieting isn't starvation at all. When you eat far less calories than your body needs to sustain itself, you create a sort of self-induced metabolic syndrome. When you dip below a certain point (everyone is different, btw, there is no magic number) your metabolism will slow considerably. This very often results in a plateau that wouldn't have happened if you were eating more. However, self induced metabolic syndrome or not, it is inevitable you will start losing again eventually just by basic math. Burning more calories than you are consuming and the pounds come off.
Some people truly do need more calories to successfully lose weight. I hit a plateau a couple months ago eating 1000 calories a day, increased my calories by only 100-200, and the weight started falling off again. Currently, I am only eating 800-900 calories a day not because I'm restricting myself to that amount but because I have really good restriction and I'm simply never hungry enough to eat more.
So "Starvation Mode" is a bad name for it because you're not starving. But, everyone's body is different and needs a different amount to successfully and consistently lose weight.

I'm glad you were able to order the pb2. The good thing about it being in powder form is you can add it to anything you want to have peanut butter flavor. Example is I like sugar free fat free chocolate pudding and I add the pb2 to it and it tastes just like a peanut butter cup :-)

One more thing I want to mention I agree with the above posters who said you don't need to go to the gym to workout every movement counts just make a conscious decision to get up and move around every 30 min even if it's to unload the dishwasher check the mail so on.