jennifer1

with my experiences with my band and being too tight and not tight enough..my 5th fill i told my surgeon how much i wanted in my band. he did just that and i have great restriction. i think after a while you kinda know where you need to be

i've been banded almost 8 months. i was only given a 10# lifting restriction for 4 weeks, no bending restrictions.

Hi all! Nothing really new to blog about, just thought i'd check in. I think this restriction is great! The only frustrating thing is never knowing when or what i will be able to eat. I have given up on breakfast..just enough liquid to get down my medication. I have found i dont ever eat what is considered a full meal, therefore i try to make protein my first choice. I sat down and calculated that from my heaviest weight ever i have lost 51 pounds and 35 since being banded. WOW! it's amazing how i look back on old pics and i'm just embarassed actually. it's definelty a motivation to never go back! New goal is to hit that 14 by feb 14th! LOL! I think this weekend i'll buy something in a 14 to see how close i am to making it, hopefully it will be motivation and not make me cry if i'm too far off. LOL!

i am a slow loser, but i also have hypothyrodism. i was banded may 20, 2011 and i have lost 35 pounds and gone from a size 20 to a 16. wishing it was more, but at least i'm not where i used to be. it took me 5 fills and 2 emergency unfills to get to my current restriction. the first 4-6 weeks are about healing so dont expect much weight loss. i was on an altered diet for the first month out and really had no appetite for the first 3 weeks. be patient with yourself and the band. feel free to PM me with any questions you may have. best wishes to you. jennifer

I got the same comments..even had a friend say she couldn't go out to dinner with me anymore cuz I was gonna be the skinny girl..then she said later on that once I lost all my weight I could take my band out and we could go eat some real food.wth..that's like tell a crack head..oh u have been clean for a year lats go celebrate and smoke some crack..girl shake yo haters off and keep it moving.

it took me 5 fills and 2 unfills to get to good restriction. so be patient everyone is different. hopefully you get restriction quickly.

I too have a crazy band. It's frustrating part is I never know if I will be able to eat. I can have a few bites of something 1 day and the next day won't even think about going there. It just got cold here in chicago and my band seems tighter now. I really don't get it.Ugh...

Thanks everyone for letting me know I am not crazy I neither is my band. It's good to know I am not alone in this is normal. I am happy about my 8 pound lost.. yes I just hit on december 12th. I will take the advice of drinking a little before I eat.. thanks again everyone. I love my lap band family.:-)

I was banded by Dr. Elli at Day One Health in may of 2011. i was private pay so after one year i will have to pay out of pocket for my fills. i was told they are $250 a pop. OMG! i'm praying that i will need very few if any fills after the first year. i was wondering how much others are paying for their fills in the chicagoland area. he uses fluroscopy. jennifer

well happy new year all. i hope everyone had safe holidays. well it's been almost a month since my 5th fill. it's kinda been crazy. so days i think i need a slight unfill and then with in that same day i think i'm fine. the scale is finally starting to move. i have upped my gym time from 4 days to 5 days a week. i dont know if this is normal, but like i said some day i can eat what i feel is good for a bandster and some days i can barely get in 2 teaspoons. i have decided that this is how my band is going to be. I'm content. I just never expected it to be so different from day to day. I wonder if others experience the same thing. I thought when i got goo restriction it would be the same all the time(well except in the am i cant eat anything solid till after 10am), but not to change so much even within a day. i mean one day i eat something and the next day it wont go down. Are me and my band crazy or is this normal?

i told a few people about my surgery and i would say 75% were supportive. i heard the whole you dont need surgery and just exercise and eat good bit too. well guess what i did exercise before my band and i ate right about 70% of the time and i still couldnt loose weight. bottom line is you have to do what's best for you. i didnt have high blood pressure, diabetes, joint pain or none of the things that are sometimes associated with being over weight, but those things run in my family. so i figured if i can invest in a luxury car, desinger purses and expensive hair styles, then i could invest in my health. now i have had some challenges with my band, but the good has definelty out weighted the bad. i have choosen to ignore the negative ninnes and keep it move. after all this about me and no one else. best wishes to you and feel free to PM me if you need support or have questions. i was banded in may of 2011. jennifer

my surgery was done out patient. so i was home by that time. i stopped to get pain meds and i'm sure i looked ridiculouse walking around the store hanging on to the cart! LOL i slept mostly, and i had company, but they were babying me so i didnt mind the company! LOL

HATERS THEY ARE ALL HATERS. if give the opportunity i'm sure some of them would jump at the chance. i love my band and refuse to let anyone make me feel bad about getting it! hmph!

i hear different things about her and the band. if she had or has one she looks great! people tell me i look like her and i just say i'm the j hud before weight watchers, working on the after pic!LOL

Ok today dec 12th i finally got my 5th fill. on oct 28th i got my second unfill and have had nooooo restriction since then. I gain 7 pounds in those 6 weeks, but i'm not complaining cuz it could have been much worse. My clothes are actually feeling looser. I dont get it and I dont care. as long as i'm not gaining! LOL! this band has been such an experience. I'm nowhere near where i thought i would be almost 7 months post, but i'm not where i was 7 months ago and for that i'm grateful. Now that my band is back where it needs to be, let's get this ball rolling. Currenlty I go to the gym 4 days a week and my goal for next year is 5 days. I told my trainer that jogging on the treadmill isnt all that bad, and i'm no longer too embarrassed to do it. But now of course he's like it's not good for the knee joints. now me being a therapist i kinda already knew that, but i figured that moslty applied to running on concrete. oh well, he said not more than 2 times a week and i'm ok with that. well that's all for now. Jennifer

i have heard the same comment and why dont you just stop eating and use some self control! WELL WHY DIDNT I THINK OF THAT instead of risking my life having major surgery, taking off work, being in pain, not eating "normal food" for almost 2 months! People can be soooo insensitive and retarded at times. I wish I hadnt told some of the people I did. Who can live on drinking liquids only, are they serious! Still to this site and you'll get plenty of support, some will even give you a verbal cyber hand slap when needed! LOL! this site helped me get thru my first few months. feel free to check out my blog(although i havent been good at keeping it up lately) or inbox me with any questions. Best wishes hun! jennifer

sorry for the late response everyone, i hadnt been on in a while. THANK YOU SOO MUCH FOR ALL THE LOVE AND ENCOURGEMENT! i made it thru thanksgiving without eating out of control and didnt gain weight. well that dec 5th appointment was cancelled by the doc and rescheduled for the 12. so 2 more days!!!! surprizingly i have lost 5 pounds during this 6 week nightmare of no restriction and i do believe i owe that to working out. and melinda..yeah i didnt wanna hear the self control part, but i needed to and thanks for saying that! i did post a whole new entry in my blog recently, but it disappeared! ugh! so i thought i'd just update here. THANKS AGAIN EVERYONE FOR YOUR SUPPORT!! Lady T it's almost here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Just my 2 cents...in the first month I tried alcohol and it made me sick...but now 7 months out I can drink..I'm not a big drinker so maybe one cocktail a month and I'm fine.

ditto what alex said heavydutyQ-Tee...i got a several packets from my doctor's office after my first follow up one week after surgery, but i'm not sure if you can go to the allegren website and get it though. check with your doctors office. alex..have you ever used your card?

ok i know this may sound corny, but one of my goals is to be able to jog on Lake Michigans lake front while listening to my ipod. i want to be able to do this by the summer. so my latest NSV is that i can jog on the treadmill for 10 minutes, walk fast for 2 minutes and jog another 10 minutes! YEAH ME!!!!

AMEN!!! to what the others said. me and the scale are arch enemies. i've only lost about 22 pounds since May, but clothing went from a 20 to 16. so inches are definelty coming off faster than the scale. plus i train with a trainer and we lift weight as well as cardio so i know i'm gaining some muscle mass to, dont wanna be flabby! LOL

i think the band has only been approved in the US for 10 years so no one here has had it longer than at least 10 years.

i had the same experiece once! yeah not fun at all!

I just looked and realized i haven't blogged since july i think. wow and i have nothing really exciting to say now. i did make my size 16 for my bday in august and that's where i still am today almost 3 months later. i have had 4 fills and 2 unfills. let me tell you being too tight is a nightmare. i was too tight for 2 weeks(long story about getting into the doctor) and lost 9 pounds, great, but once i got unfilled those 9 pounds came back so fast it made my head spin. now my band is so loose i feel like i dont even have one. i cant get back into my doctor until dec 5th for a fill. i think i know now i need to be between 7.5ccs and 8cc for my green zone. after those 9 pounds i have just been gaining and loosing the same 2-3 pounds like i was before my 4th fill. my goal was to be in a 14 by thanksgiving, but that's obvioiusly not happening. my only saving grace is that i still go to the gym 4 days a week if not for that i think i would gain all my weight back. am i not eating 100% right now and i know i'm not. i've fallen right back into almost all of my bad eating habits. i just want dec 5th to hurry and get here so i can get back on track. i have friends that say well since you dont have the right filll right now is when you have to exercise self control. WELL WHY DIDNT I THINK OF THAT INSTEAD OF PAYING $12K FOR A SURGERY I DIDNT NEED WHEN I CAN JUST USE SELF CONTROL!!!!!! ugh! i regret telling some people I have the band now. i am so afraid of going thru thanksgiving with my band like this. i am going to take my appetite suppresants with me cuz i cant trust myself and force myself to drink plenty of water! Sorry for this cry baby post, but i needed to get it out my system. Thanks for reading whomever decides to read this. jennifer

every patient is different, so how can a doc follow such a routine, without looking at each case individually?