Wheelchair

Hi everyone, I haven't been on this site too long... and I've only been banded for a week. But I've been seeing a trend on this site along with most of the other WLS support sites and I just wanted to make a post. I'm not aiming this post at anyone, instead, I think creating this thread will hopefully show that I'm just venting my opinions. Agree or disagree...the choice is yours and will be respected. First of all, there is a common string that binds ALL of us here, banded or not. All of us have fought with weight issues for several years and have elected to go on with this surgery as a last ditch effort to better our lives. Having said that, there are lots of 'cliquey' behavior that isolate those who haven't yet been banded or those that may have been banded for awhile. With this being a support site, I think it is important to value opinions and thoughts of everyone. Secondly, I think there abounds a great deal of irrational and unrealistic goals and expectations coming from lots of members. Weight loss, in its core, is simple. Everyone knows this. You use more than you eat and your body will naturally go into a catabolic mode and burn fat as the energy source. Being an ex-Marine, it is difficult for me to understand (and more importantly sympathize) why some people are so baffled that they are not losing weight, while knowingly disobeying the most important rules for diet with the Lap Band. This leads to various topics that I've seen regarding RATE of weight loss. There are members concerned that they are not 'losing weight fast enough'. What does that even mean? A wrestling trainer can get any of us on this site to drop 5 pounds in the next two hours with a sweat suit and a sauna. Does this mean anything? If you've lost 30 pounds during your pre-op diet and the first couple weeks after surgery...most of that 30 pounds is Water. I'm really sorry to disappoint you there. Are we here to lose WEIGHT or are we here to lose FAT? PLEASE ASK YOURSELVES THIS! Experts agree that it takes 3500 Calories to gain or lose one pound of BODY FAT. This is why health professionals say that healthy weight loss is rated at one to two pounds lost per week. If you decrease your intake (or increase your output) by 500 Calories per day, that's one pound of body fat per week. But through this brilliant medical intervention, we are able to further our intake limitations. Let's take the typical 2000 Calorie per day diet for an 'average' human being. If the band allows you to decrease your food intake and you eat only a 1000 Calories a day... your body is at a 1000 Calorie per day deficit. Simple math dictates that you'd have a weight loss rate of 2 pounds of body fat per week. Are you a bit more realistic in your expectations now? The problem here is that at 1000 Calorie per day diet, your body is again at a catabolic state. Of course you lose fat..but you start losing your lean body mass as well. So that 2 pounds of body fat...isn't all body fat. To prevent this... doctors suggest that you maintain about 1200 to 1500 Calorie diet with plenty of Protein, along with some weight lifting exercises. Trust me (especially you ladies)... you won't look like Arnold the ex-governator. If it were so easy to bulk up in muscle... most of us wouldn't be here anyhow. Putting in weight lifting into your workout regimen will burn the FAT faster and longer. So let's be realistic, folks... Strive for ONE pound of body fat per week. No more, no less. The whole point of this surgery is to get all of us healthier. If you starve yourself and lose 100,000 pounds and become one of the Olsen twins... you're still in trouble. Health troubles exist on both ends of the spectrum. If you've got 100+ pounds of excess body fat. Give yourself at least 2 years to do this. If you've got 50 pounds.... do it in a year. No one told you that will be the cure-all. EVERYONE told you that you'll still have to work your ass off to lose weight. I know...I know...you hear of people losing 100+ pounds in a year. Yes, it's still possible. But then again..it's POSSIBLE for ALL of us to lose all the weight WITHOUT the band. I'm just saying... let's be realistic. And please.... GET RID OF YOUR WEIGHT SCALES!!! Your weight displayed on your scales is NO indication of your weight loss. Like I said... I can get you to drop 5 pounds in two hours. Instead... I think we should be more focused on NON-scale VICTORIES. Things like: decrease in dress/ pants size increase in amount of activity, energy decrease (or increase) in diameter of certain body parts Lastly, I want to say that I've never been the one to 'baby' someone. At only 25 years old, I've gone through things that you wouldn't wish on your worst enemy and it's stiffened me up to face life and face reality. I'll go ahead and apologize if my posts or remarks seem negative or discouraging.. but that's not my intent. I've lost sensation and movement in over 75% of my body... I can't pee or poo within my control.... and I'll never be able to dance at my future wedding or lift my future newborn baby off the floor. But I still love life and I still enjoy it. I wouldn't have been able to do it without dusting off the 'trivialities' of life. So let's live people. I know things are hard for you...but trust me... those same things are harder for me.

OP... are you an RN?

more weight loss?

HAHAHAHA I just saw your title and laughed. HANGRY. I'm so guilty of HANGER. I think it's the emotion that binds us bandsters together far and wide.

Maybe it shouldn't be a contest with OTHERS. You're not losing weight for others, right? Right? Keep up the good work!!!

that's interesting... i'd like to see some peer reviewed studies on that... pretty nifty

From what I was told... many people are expected to get hair loss in the beginning stages of WLS and then most of them retrieve what they have lost. It's never a fun thing to have hair loss... I have bad genes when it comes to that... I still have a full head... but TIME IS TICKING!

Well, my surgeon does not progress his patients to full liquids I don't think. The discharge instructions state that I need to be a clear liquids until my next appointment....at which time I can start mushies... Mickp24.... I dunno what you're referring to about waiting before and after meals... my meals consist of drinks anyhow. Currently I'm surviving on apple juice 'laced' with water and that's pretty much it. I've had some chicken broth... but I feel it nauseates me a bit

Got up about an hour ago. I feel very refreshed from sleep and hadn't had trouble waking up in the middle of the night due to nausea. Thank God! It feels real good outside so I think I'm going to do some yard work...taking it easy.... I'm sipping on my feast of grape juice and water cocktail.... it's not so bad. I just hope the hunger won't bother me as it did yesterday.

Gas pains are all gone. I'm still a bit weak and feel tightness in my stomach but otherwise pretty swell. Last night was much better than the nights previous... nausea has subsided a fair amount. Problem now... after 5 days of liquids...I'm getting hungry. Yesterday was fine..but today I'm getting really hungry. I constantly think about food and it feels like this liquid diet will be the end of me. My next doctor's appointment is in two days...(on Wednesday, 6.8) and I can start mushy foods at that time. Just two more days...two more nights. Today is almost done...so that's good...but I fear how it'll be tomorrow... I'm going to be starving. Oh gosh...

I actually agree with Petunia 100%. Life is tough and those that want to be babied along the way usually are left behind in the sidelines and wind up feeling like the OP. Many of you are saying that Petunia doesn't have a say because she is not yet banded... but a lap band is not the cosmic end-all of life experience and hardship. Some say that having a weight loss surgery is one of the greatest physical changed you've gone through... but for me.... it ranks near the bottom of the heap. No matter what we look like, no matter how we got here or there.... there are several ground rules that all must abide by in order to be "successful". You say these ground rules are objective but then again, if you thought so, you wouldn't have had the surgery in the first place. Even before the surgery, EVERYONE involved in the process informs you that this is merely a tool, a device that only catalyzes the results of the lifestyle and behavioral changes that WE dictate and execute. EVERYONE tells you this. From day 1, we've all been told the SAME THINGS: this is just a tool you need to make behavioral changes don't drink before or after meals don't snack eat nutritious foods MOVE YOUR ASS Just the fact that the OP has neglected even ONE of these ground rules sets a basis for our so-called 'tough love'. Your self-esteem cannot be increased by what frosting others put on top of their words. Your self-esteem is not created by the decreasing numbers on your digital scale or the lack of fabric required to make your undergarments. If you depended on your lap-band to boost your self-esteem...then I believe you failed before you started. That's the harsh truth. The doctors, the Allergan PR, the bariatric coordinator at your hospital have all said the same thing. The LAGB may help increase your weight loss so that you become healthier and you eliminate or reduce the existence or at least the symptoms of your ailing co-morbidities. Nothing in the PR says that the lap band will increase your self-esteem. Please wake up. I'm deliberately trying to be ruthless because that's how we all learn. The hard way. That's how I learned. But in the end, the point is that we follow the rules, we get our priorities in order, we become healthy, and we become happy. Electing to the do the surgery was a big step for you, no doubt. It took courage and determination. You've already made your decision... now you just have to follow along with the consequences of that decision. God-speed and good luck to you.

+11111 I consider myself VERY active...can't-sit-still kind of guy. I'm in a wheelchair but I still do all my yardwork and even do minor repairs on my cars. I wanted to get back on my feet (proverbially) and get moving...but the first couple days were very hard I got banded last friday (6.3) and I'm still in recovery~ I feel real great today (post-op day 4) and I hope to take my dog to the dog park and see if I can do some yardwork today. Still, I'll need to pace myself and make sure to be hydrated. No matter how resilient you are....remember that you're still going to be pumping on ~300 Cal per day....

Definitely donate. Only thing to do.

for me, the gas pains lasted maybe 3~4 hours (if that). I was told that you need to move around for those gases to be reabsorbed and released. Ambulation is good but since I can't walk, I did a lot of upper body exercises while I was in the hospital bed and that seemed to alleviate the gas pains. For me, the pains were focused a bit above my heart...I thought I was having a heart attack....

thanks for your support and kind words... i feel a bit better now... i was feeling extremely nauseated about two hours ago... i spent about an hour in the bathroom I think i experienced my first slime episode...

So how are you feeling now?? Are things getting better for ya?

I'm also 1 day post op... not feeling 100%... want to function normally again

Ahhh... I'm hurting now... Seems like it's worse today than it was yesterday. I just have to survive the first week and I think I'll be fine.... Stomach is pretty sore and I have NO energy... didn't sleep too well...

Got banded today. Not much pain...but it feels like my stomach is constantly taut and tight... uncomfortable...

I can has Realize band. Gots it today at 10:30. I am officially a bandster!

This is me. June 3, 2011. The day of my surgery. Current Stats: Weight: 260+ BMI: Who cares... Pants Size: 38~40" Shirt Size: X-Large, XX Large Goal: Weight:<170 Body fat: <11% Pants Size: <34" Shirt Size: Large - X Large Fitness Goals: Benchpress: 225lb x 10 reps Military Press: 185lb x 10 reps Lateral Pulldown: 240lb x 10 reps Bicep Curl: 40lb x 10 reps Tricep Pulldown: 60lb x 10 reps

seriously?? are you sure those aren't your surgeon's requirements? i have medicare and i was accepted by my surgeon immediately as i have a 35+ BMI and hypertension. Medicare does NOT do prior-authorization so most surgeons try to be as stringent as possible before doing the surgery. Surgeons are supposed to charge the full amount to the patient beforehand, perform the surgery, and then receive 80% from Medicare (if they approve). Depending on your surgeon's office, you may not have to pay upfront, as is the case for me. Medicare itself only requires the 40+ BMI or 35+ w/ comorbidity, as long as the surgery is done at a center of excellence and with an approved surgeon.

Korean food has tons of tofu recipes...some spicy and some not. You can do silken tofu with a dash of soy sauce, chopped shallots, a dash of vinegar, and VERY LITTLE sesame seed oil. Tofu is good protein...but has more fat content than white chicken... just one thing I'd watch out for