plumpdude

Awesome!! I had lapband surgery performed by Dr. Yoo June 22nd. I didn't do plication, but I still hope I do as well as you are doing. I love Duke Weight Loss.

Yep nothing but great service from Duke. They have been wonderful so far.

Hi guys,

I dont dont post much here because everything is going well. Yesterday was my one year since getting band with plication. Started at 257 on surgery day and now I weigh around 176. 80ish pounds down since surgery and 90lbs from highest weight and 8 pounds from goal weight. Just wanted to let people know that it is possible to be successful. Sorry there isnt pics but I would like to stay anonymous. I havent told many people about my surgery so...

I go through a 12 pack a week. Love it! They are on sale right now 5 for 5 dollars at whole foods. And if you add 2 more after getting 10 you get the case discount too. Its under 11 dollars for 12. Insane deal where I live!

Had this procedure done aug of 2011. 80 pounds down from highest weight 70 from surgery date(and I only need to lose 18 more). 8 months out and So far so good. Very good in fact.

I had the Realize Band on 1/9/09 and I consider it a 100% success. I'm within 15 pounds of my target weight but where I differ from many of the folks on this forum is that I eat and drink everything I want. I sip a glass of wine with dinner and I have a small cup off coffee in the morning with breakfast. Let me preface that by saying the my previous obesity was a result of eating too much food, not from eating the wrong foods. I'll have a piece of bread here and there and I always leave room for desert...the only difference is now I eat a quarter of the food I used to eat.

I used to eat too much too but I always ate healthy 90% of the time. I think lap band is perfect for people like this. Also I feel its perfect for people who arent prone to grazing on bad food choices. As long as you stick to your solid healthy foods the lap band is a happy camper. Also being pyshiscally forced to eating slow and chewing more then in the past is such an huge helper in losing weight. Every single time id eat before being banded I would inhale food and be overstuffed before I could tell I was full. Now that I am forced to eat so slowly the fullness is EASILY detected making it very easy to stop. For me anyway. After only 7 months im very used to eating slow and chewing and its second nature. Took some getting used to but Im happy its a new habit.

Basically try to limit the sliders, no grazing and bad food choices 95% of the time and I feel its a win with the band. Oh and some exercise too.

Gastric plication is a new technique that reduces the size of the stomach by stapling pleats into it. It can be done as the only procedure, or in conjunction with band placement.

I know someone who had plication only and has done very well with her weight loss. And someone else who had band plication and has lost over 200 lbs with it, but she has another 150 or so to go and will probably revise to RNY or DS in order to tackle the rest of her weight.

Plication is too new to have any long term success or complication statistics.

Im pretty sure Its actually stiched with stiches not staples. The method they use to do a standalone plication can be different then the one they do that is coupled with a band. I think standalone can be a double inward fold whereas the one I got with my band is single fold(still reduces stomach size by about 70%). Single fold is supposedly safer in terms of developing necrosis etc.

Also whats good about the band plus plication is that the band prevents the plication from stretching out after long terms, much like what can happen to veritcal sleeve patients over the long run. So im told by my doctor anyway.

I think my experience was surgeon-specific... and having expectations that someone who weighs much more than I do should have to start off the journey. At my one week follow-up, I had lost only 4.5lbs, and you'd think I'd been chugging maple Syrup during those 7 days. I do not care to be compared to other patients, nor do I like being made out to be a liar of sorts... or told I shouldn't have bothered with the surgery if I didn't plan on changing. Heck - I went in there thinking "woo hoo! 4.5lbs and I only need to lose 50-60 total" and came out all kinds of upset and pee-o'ed. I worked through all of that though and am now down exactly 10lbs since surgery with my 3 week follow up tomorrow. Bring on the criticism doc... I can handle it, get my fill, and walk right back out. :-)

Your doctor sounds like an idiot. Id consider changing. Any person that has any experience in this knows that the body could be holding on in efficiency mode and not losing like it should be at certain times in your weight loss and to say 4.5 in a week is bad is ridiculous. Its actually too much. Get ready to plataeu here and there because thats just how the weight loss works. Its like stairs. Down 2 platuea at 0 down 3 platuea at 0 down 4 etc. The body needs a chance to catch up to the losses.

Also if you only need to lose 50 to 60 its going to come off much slower then someone that needs to lose 150. 2 lbs a week would be amazing. 1-1.5 pound is plenty.

I looked into it, but opted not to do the plication. I'm a little over two weeks post-op with only a one pound loss and now wishing I had gone ahead with the plication. I'm also quite hungry between meals and with no restriction I'm having to force myself to stop eating -- Bandster Hell!

Not to rain on your parade but I think the addition of plication is huge. If I had just gotten the band I dont think Id be as successful as I am so far. My cousin got gastric bypass and we have lost the same amount of weight in the same amount of time for the most part. And quite honestly its pretty easy for me. For the past 2 months I have worked out on average 1 to 2 times per week(burning aprox 300 cals) and I am still losing 6 to 7 pounds per month. It's pretty crazy. Dont get me wrong though my friend has just the band and she has lost 80 pounds in a year I think but she does seem to work alot harder then I do at it. She works out alot more.

Having said that I still think youll do fine because I can feel the band working too.

For those of you who are having success with the banded plication........

How was your recovery?

100% in about 14 days but I had a very large hiatal hernia as well.

How soon did you go back to work?

Back to work in 5-7, could have been 3 to 4 though.

Do you follow a low carb diet?

Yes for the most part just balance beteen Protein and carbs. Zone diet is close to my ratios. I have Protein shake every morning with high Protein whey. 20 grams per 7 oz drink. Sometimes I just eat whatever and whenever though. always try to keep it to healthy items though for the most part.

There are things I dont like to eat anymore though because its a pain like steak.

Have you had to have any fills in your band?

every month I get adjusted but now its every 2 months they might not fill much at all though they just adjust so its folwing at the right speed when I drink the barium drink. Always on floroscope too.

How is your hunger level?

fine not too bad at all. 1000 to 1400 calories a day usually.

How much can you eat before you feel "full"

about 1 to 1.5 cups, most of the time 1 cup. 1000 to 1400 calories a day usually.

For those of you who have had this procedure was it the first time you had bariatric surgery or was it a revision from a prior bariatric surgery?

first time for me.

I had the band and plication on Jan 23, 2012, and it was my first procedure... not a revision or new LWS. So far, though, I've been really disappointed.

Its only been one month for you? How come you are disappointed?

Everything for me has been great.

I had this procedure in aug 2011. So far its been really great. Lost almost 60 pounds now in under 6 months. You really get full easily on a cup of food.< /p>

I am extremely happy. Ive lost about 44 pounds in 3.5 months so far(almost 50% of what I need to lose). Hopefully the band and plication holds up over the years though. The real test for me will be minimum complications 5 to 6 years out when it seems lap bands can start failing. So far I am doing well with the diet and program etc.

Ha ha so did I! Lost about 2 pounds since thurs. I ate everything too, just real small amounts. For dinner itself on thurs I had a cup. I even ate apple crisp with ice cream. Yum!!

Was it a urine test? All you have to do is drink massive amounts of Water and it will flush right out of your system in no time. Did you drink lots of fluids during that time? 8 weeks is a ridiculous amount of time to get rid of the thc. Ive seen people get tested within days of using and test negative just from drinking alot of water prior. Im talking like a least a gallon a day.

haaha nice job man. Love the handle you have fatty mcfatster.

Im down 32 pounds since surgery date 2 months and 2 days from today. 42 pounds from highest weight. GO ME!!! lololol

Good job everyone!

Sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeett!!!!!! AWESOME JOB!

It's not just eating baked chicken, I was just using that as an example. The point I am trying to make is I have done this samething over and over to lose weight. It takes a lot of will power to do that. For whatever reason after a while I would get bored with this "eating healthy" thing and go back to the food that I enjoy eating. For some reason I didn't think it would be like this with the lap band. I like eating hamburgers, French Fries,cheese cake,ect. If I had know that I would have to chose the baked whatever instead of a cheeseburger for this thing to work then I would not had gotten this thing I hate. The only time I have felt any restriction I would feel all kinds of pain and throw up. If I have to live worrying about food getting stuck and throwing up, this is not worth it. And to have to take tiny bites of bake whatever on top of it. The Doctor went with the band because of the meds I am on,but I can't help but feel I would of lost a hell of a lot more weight by now. And maybe been off half these meds in anyway. You wait months it get approved, you wait months to find this so called sweet spot, months have gone by and not a damn pound lost. For all the ones on here that think this is the best thing that ever happed to them (and I am happy for those) there are people here thsat have not had this surgery and really need to hear that it doesn't work for everyone. All the money, all the pain, and for what???

Just to have to chose cheeseburger or baked chicken. Hell I did that before surgery. But that time I did loss 60 lbs. Didn't keep it off. But its still more then I can say a this Lap band.l

Didnt your doc tell you that food choices are huge with ANY WLS??? Except maybe the duedenal switch.

I tried to practice pre op and I was just down right horrible at it. Now almost 2 months post op I am a pro. I havent gotten stuck yet too. Its 96% habit now. I guess I just have that huge fear of swallowing something big so I always chew pretty good. Sometimes a semi small piece goes down and I worry but it passes through with no issue. Maybe I dont have that much of a fill yet for it to matter. Im at 5.4 in 10 cc band with one fill so far.

I know how you feel. I used to be the queen of pizza. I was in the local gas station/pizza joint last week paying for my gas. I thought I was going to be sick from the sight of the slices for sale! I looked at them and all I could see was the slime it would certainly cause!

I can eat pizza? Is that normal? Course I only had it once since surgery and it was a very small slice from a 12" pie. Didnt eat the crust either.

Wow! Now that is a before and after pic. Nice job!

If someone had asked me one year ago if I ever thought I would be at a "normal" weight again, I probably would've laughed. Yet here I am, at my doctor's and my goal weight and with a normal BMI. When I started this process, weighing 244 pounds, my realistic hopes were to just be under 200 pounds again. That came fairly quickly, and the rest was just bonus. It has been just under ten months and I am here to let everyone know that it is possible, you can do it too! I realize that I am very fortunate that I have not had any issues or complications and am very thankful for that. When I lost my mother a few months ago, I was devastated and used that as an excuse to overeat. I had been averaging a loss of ten pounds per month, so when I gained two pounds the month following her passing, I had to remember why I had the surgery and how proud my mom was of me for losing weight. She has always been my rock and my inspiration, so thinking of her has been my motivation. If you get discouraged or down during your journey (and I'm sure everyone does at one time or another) just go back to square one and remember why you went down the road you chose. Whatever that reason was, whether it be health, body image, love or anything else, I hope it will motivate you as mine motivated me. Good luck to everyone on your journeys and I wish the best for all of you!

Wow you rock. Awesome job!

Good luck I had the same surgery and so far its really great.

Congrats! Keep up the good work.