ncgg-5

I need to cut down on carbs too. As far as drinking your water goes, I've got a water bottle that holds 3 cups of water and It seems to go faster when I put my water in there vs individual glasses. I do love Crystal Light and just found almost the same thing but cheaper from Walmart. It even has the Truvia swetener I like in the Crystal Light kiwi-strawberry flavor. I do use one packet for the whole 3 cups of water and it's fine. I do like to check off things too. I use my fitness pal and track everything. Blessings, GG

Good for you. I will not talk about the 3 mini cream pufs or the very small square of cake I had either! Blessings, GG

Hope you did well today at the social. We had a Sunday School Mexican potluck last night and I was pretty good. Saved a lot of calories all day so I don't think I went over 1100. It's hard to do at things like that. Did anyone notice your weight loss? Blessings, GG

Glad the fill went so smoothly. I had one Tues and can tell a difference in my hunger. Yeah lapbands! You're still doing a fantastic job. I wish 2 lbs would fall off of me! Blessings, GG

I agree, you are really being too hard on yourself. You have lost a lot of weight already. Congratulations! Just hang in there and keep up what you are doing. The lap band is a tool and we are all still newbies and it will take a while until we get the hang of this new lifestyle. You said you are loosing, just slowly. That's good. All of my life I have heard that if you loose slowly it's better for your health and you are less likely to gain it back. If you will try to exercise it might go faster. I have never, ever been a person to exercise and I am doing my 25 minutes of walking a day now inside my house. The funny thing is I am now wearing clothes I bought last year when I weighed 10 lbs more and they're getting loose. I do sleep better and the inches are coming off and my energy level is better too. Blessings, GG

Hi cruisegirl, He's my Doc too and I can't say enough good things about him. I'm working hard also and had surgery Aug 25 and down 15 lbs. I'm very glad I didn't go anywhere else. If anyone out there is looking for a great Dr please email me personally if you'd like and I will be glad to fill you in about him. Blessings, GG

Bummer that it hurt this time. Maybe next time you can ask, or insist, the Dr to do a lidocaine shot. Mine does that and I can't feel it at all. If he will then you might not have to change Dr's. I think most of them don't like to take patients that have already had surgery somewhere else, at least it's that way it is around here. Quit weighting every day, it will drive you crazy. I know cause I do it too! LOL I understand completly beause I love it when I have lost but then it bums me out when I have not lost or have gained and sometimes can ruin my day. I need to get my hubby to hide my scales. As women we do fluctuate up and down daily and need to remember that as we climb on the scales every day. Try to not let it bother you and don't record it but once a week if you can. Keep up the good work and next year at this time we can all laugh at all the newbies that are so stressed out like we are now in Bander Hell. Blessings, GG

Yeaaaaaaah! Good for you. Keep it up and you will be to your goal soon. Blessings, GG

Glad the fill went well. Keep up the good work! You're doing an amazing job. See, it pays to keep those smaller clothes! LOL Blessings, GG

The first fill is so exciting. Time to get that band to do it's job. You are already doing so well, congratulations. It is wise to not have a scale. I should get my hubby to hide mine. I get on it too much. Blessings, GG

I'm so happy it went well for you. All the Dr's tell us different things about what to eat and when. I agree it's strange. I had my second fill today and I am to do liquids today and back to mushies tomorrow and then back to food if it all goes OK. My Doc only put in 1/4 cc for me so that might be why. Blessings, GG

Raleigh NC

Monday is not far away now. Let us know how it goes. I understand about working on pure will power, I am too. I've got an appointment Tues and had my first fill 2 wks ago. Can't say it did much but another one will be great. Blessings, GG

Hi Sharon, Welcome to the thread and congratulations on your weight loss success! You are doing very well. Hope to hear more success stories from you again. Have a great weekend. Blessings, GG

A lot of us seem to be having trouble getting in exercise. We are all still healing and I know all the excuses for not exercising. I have used them all. I was basically a large slug last year with foot and then knee surgery. Since I have started walking again my back is better, I am loosing inches, slowly loosing lbs, I really do sleep better and that water goes down a lot faster when you are hot and tired. There is a definite correlation between weight loss and exercise and we all know it so everyone needs to make the time to do something. I am wearing clothes that are now getting loose that I bought last year when I was 10 lbs lighter. It's from exercise. I walk laps from my dining room to my den to my kitchen to the living room and do it for 20 minutes. I turn the tv up so I can hear it and grab my water bottle about every 2nd lap and before I know it 20 minute has gone by and most of my 3 cups of water is gone. Next week I'll increase to 25 minutes and sometimes I do it twice a day. You don't need special equipment and now that it is cooler we can all go outside and take a walk around the block. This is a transition time for us and we need a lot of help. Some more than others. If you want help tracking your calories I highly recommend My Fitness Pal. Most of you have heard of it but if you are not using it try it. You can track every calorie, your exercise and your water intake. It gives you calories back for your exercise and I especially like that feature. You can set your own limits for calories, sodium, sugar, protein and even put in your own recipes and it will break it down for you. One of the reason I liked Weight Watchers Online is their calorie tool and it's just like this one, only free. You need to know how much your Dr recommends as far as all the values for protein, calories, carbs, etc. but then you can do it all yourself. Do any of you out there use it? I only use the calorie counter but I know there are other features. Here is the link: http://www.myfitnesspal.com Blessings, GG

us plus 3, Good to hear from you again too. One pound is one pound, yeaaah. I do love updating my little weight ticker too. Now is the time decide to not gain it back and your new fill should help you a lot. Blessings, GG

Hi cakegirl, Good to hear from you again. Glad the fill did not hurt but sorry for your headache. I did not experience that but with my fill I still do not feel much restriction. Yes, get out there and exercise but don't overdue. It takes time to build back up to a long period of exercise. I started out walking 10 minutes, that's all I could stand with my back. Now I'm doing 20 minutes everyday and not wearing my back brace most of the time. I bet all of our fitness is shocking, that's probably one of the reasons we are all doing this. LOL Blessings, GG

Welcome janojan! You had your surgery the day before mine. You are a little ahead of me in weight loss too. How does the fill feel? Do you have any restriction? Hopefully it will help and that and will do its job. It's a real bummer to go 2 1/2 weeks without any weight loss. I've only lost 1/2 lb in 10 days so I know where you are coming from too. Glad to have you on the board and keep us informed to your progress. Blessings, GG

That is totally amazing! Congratulations. I bet you can really tell the difference in the way you feel and move now. Plus you've got to be needing new clothes. LOL Keep up the good work and so glad your fill is working and the band is doing its job. Blessings, GG

I found this on anther thread and if you have not read it you need to now. We all are newbies starting out with fills and some of us are loosing more weight than others but don't be discouraged. I am saying this to myself too. I finally lost another 1/2 lb after 9 days and I am walking, drinking and counting with less than 1100 calories a day. Hang in there everyone. This may help you in understanding the restrictive mechanism of a Lap-Band. The ALLERGAN protocol for Lap-Band fills calls for a six-week delay after surgery, prior to any fills. The purpose for the six-week delay is for the patient’s stomach to heal from the surgery, as well as allowing time for the Lap-Band to “Seat” or “Nestle” into the fat pad between the stomach wall and the interior wall of the Lap-Band. Prior to receiving an EFFECTIVE fill, it is VERY uncommon to have any restriction from a Lap-Band. Some patients will NOT lose weight, or may even GAIN weight until they have received an effective fill in their Lap-Band. Normal weight loss with a properly restricted Lap-Band is between 1 and 2 pounds per week. The normal cycle of fills, restriction and weight loss is as follows: 1. The patient's Lap-Band constricts when the patient receives a fill. Swelling for a few days after receiving a fill is very common. Many doctors require a patient to go on a liquid diet for a day or two after receiving a fill. A fill may have a “Delayed Action” of up to 4 weeks. A “Delayed-Action” means that the fill may not become effective for up to 4 weeks after the fill. That is why the ALLERGAN protocol states that fills should not be performed on patients who will not have access to medical care for at least two weeks after a fill. 2. The patient's stomach capacity is lessened as a result of the restriction caused by the Lap-Band. 3. The patient loses weight because they cannot eat as much food. 4. The residual fat-pad between the inside of the Lap-Band and the outside of the patient's stomach reduces in size because of the overall weight loss in the patient. 5. The reduction of the residual fat-pad causes the Lap-Band to become loose again. 6. At that point, the patient needs another fill, because the Lap-Band is loose, and the patient has a loss of restriction, which allows the patient to eat larger amounts of food. 7. The patient receives another fill and the process starts all over again. Most Lap-Band patients receive several fills to adjust the Lap-Band as their weight loss progresses, and there is less and less residual fat-pad between the inside of the Lap-Band and the exterior of the stomach wall. Once a patient has lost all of their residual fat-pad, fills become less common. As the Lap-Band patient progresses in their weight loss, the effect of very tiny fills (Less than .2ccs) becomes greater and greater. It is not uncommon for a late-stage Lap-Band patient to experience a significant difference in restriction with as little as .05cc of fill. Blessings, GG

41 lbs is just amazing! Congratulations! So happy for you. Bessings, GG

chicholicious and ms lady, I am so sorry for your bad experiences. Some Dr's seem to be more aggressive than others with fills but eventually you will get out of Bander Hell. The good news is that I read that sometimes it takes a week or so for the fill to actually take effect. That's why they don't do them more often. I had my first one last week and last night I felt some restriction for the first time. In a perfect world that person giving the advice and doing fills would have been in our shoes and gone thru pre-op, post op, surgery & Bander Hell in order to deal with us. There might be a lot more compassion and understanding. Stay with the program and keep on keeping on, it will pay off. Don't weigh everyday, once a week is enough. Women's weight can fluctuate as much as 5 lbs up or down in one day my Dr told me. I do understand because and it's so discouraging to work so hard and then the stupid scale tells you another story. I've been the same weight for a week now and I'm walking, drinking and counting calories & protein. You know if you stay on the program it's goona pay off in the long runl. These few months are just a little blip in our weight loss journey. We'll be laughing at this next year. Blessings, GG