lorena st

If she is a true friend, you should be able to agree to disagree. Your weight loss and goal weight are between you and your doctor. And perhaps you should just not talk about the lap band and weight loss with her. But telling you that you will look decrepit, is just plain mean. This journey is hard enough work on it's own without those sorts of comments! If you have to stay fat to be her friend, then she is not much of a friend.

I've lost 48 pounds and I still think I look the same. My clothes are a different size, but I don't see it. I think this is how ignored how big I was, but it also works in reverse. I hope this changes with time.

You look fantastic! Keep up the great work and you are inspiring to me. My next goal is onederland...and then who knows. I have some photos (not posted), but I don't think I look all that different, my husband says different. I not only have to deal with head hunger, but apparently head body image as well.

I lose about 2 pounds per week, if I stick to 1000-1100 calories per day. I plateau if I eat around 1500 calories per day (vacation diet!). I rarely eat less than 1000 calories per day, as I feel pretty awful when I do that, but I assume I would probably lose weight more quickly.

Congrats on Onederland! I've got 15.4 pounds to go to get there (my next goal and getting my BMI under 30). It is slow going, but at least my weight is moving in the right direction.

Fantastic news! You look great. Got me wondering what my bandversary will look like (8 months from now)...hopefully as good as yours!

Don't be hard on yourself. Your body is still healing from surgery and weight loss at this point in time is secondary. Watch your diet and calories and exercise a little and the weight should come off. I tend to lose weight if I maintain my daily calories around 1000 per day. Lower than that and I feel awful, higher than that (around 1500) then I plateau. You just have to find your number and stick with it. Good luck!

I seem to alternate between losing inches and pounds...BTW, I enjoy both. Perhaps, 1300 to 1500 calories a day is too much. Try cutting back to a 1000 calories a day, for a couple of days (and maybe do a little less exercise on those days), and see if that jump starts the weight loss. I tend to plateau if I eat around 1500 calories a day (my vacation diets are around this amount), but I am not exercising to the same extent that you are. Good luck and keep up the good work...I should be exercising like you!

I told my husband and my family doctor...that's it. If anyone asks me about losing weight and how I did it, I will unlikely tell them anything beyond...small portions and calorie counting. If it is someone that needs to lose a lot of weight, I would likely tell them about the surgery. Otherwise, it is need to know, with me. Yes, I would be upset if my husband or doctor shared this information with anyone else, without my permission.

What's that old saying...Welcome to bandster hell, sorry I had to meet you here! This will get better. As others have said, you have to watch what you eat and the amounts you eat. I keep a journal and when I have hit 1100 calories in a day, I stop eating! Sounds simple, but there are days that it is hell. I have also plateaued for short periods of time (usually when I am on vacation), but when I go back to my normal diet, the weight starts coming off again. Get that willpower going and get a fill if the willpower isn't working.

Thanks for all the comments. Weather wins for me! I live in a place where the daily temperature has varied from -30C to +10C daily (chinooks) during the winter. I didn't realize the band could be so tempermental. But stress and time of day can also affect it. This is truly weird.

Sorry to hear about your problems, but I am glad that you got it sorted out. I had the same thing happen to me! I never had a problem with constipation in the past, but once I went on the pre-surgery diet, I became constipated. I wrongly assumed because I wasn't eating much that I wouldn't have regular BM's, especially when I was on the liquid phases of the diet. About a week post-surgery, I ended up at my doctors office and had to have the obstruction removed (yuch...it was as bad as it sounds). I now take Benefibre whenever I don't have a BM in a day and haven't had any problems since then.

Thanks for the info. My doctor said he left about 2.5cc in my 10cc band after surgery. So I have likely had some level of restriction since Day 1. I am glad to hear that the variable tightness is relatively normal.

I've been banded for a little over 3 months with no fills, but losing weight. I'm just not that hungry any more. In the last week, my band feels 'tighter", but I haven't had a fill. I also had a couple of "sliming" incidents during this past week, as well (this hadn't happened before). Has anyone else experienced this? Weird.

Sounds like you need to chat with your doctor/dietician. The diet you are being asked to follow is very different than most others, including myself, had to follow. Post surgery, I drank clear liquids for 1 week, Week 2-mushies (yogurt, smoothies, cream soups), Weeks 3 and 4-very soft foods (well cooked vegetables, chicken, fish, eggs) and Weeks 5 onward-normal foods-small portions, high protein, low carbs.

If you don't have complications...you could be back at work in a week. With complications...it would be at least 2 weeks if not more. Surgery on Thursday and work the following Monday, might be pushing it.

Congrats...I am getting close to a 14 too! The best part is packing up all those big clothes and clearing out my closet. Clothes shopping is not the nightmare it used to be and I actually enjoy not being limited to purses and shoes and jewelery in most stores.

2 cups of 1% milk has the same calories, fat, carbs and slightly higher protein as the protein shakes that I was told to drink. I also took a multivitamin daily as well. I substituted milk regularly as I couldn't stand the protein shakes (I could only manage one per day, mixed with crushed ice in a cup with a lid-so I couldn't smell it). I used the milk to drink and make pureed veg soups). I lost about 20 pounds on the pre-surgery diet and my doctor was okay with my substitutions. Check with your doctor first.

Good luck with your surgery. I am from Calgary and I was banded in Vancouver by Dr. Mitchell last October and it has been a very positive experience. The lapband is working for me, but your and Dr. Mitchell need to decide what procedure would work best in your situation. What you are experiencing is "head hunger" and not real hunger. Your relationship with food changes with the band, however, every now and then I still have "head hunger". This type of eating decreases with time and I am getting better at recognizing it when it happens. This recognition is what was missing from the many other diets that I had tried in the past. I am still able to eat whatever kind of food I want, just in much smaller quantities. My weight loss is slow, but steady (except when I am on vacation and the good news, I stay the same weight). Good luck on the pre-surgery liquid diet and message me if you have any questions.

I wish I knew that the pain after surgery would only last a couple of days and then healing would begin. I wish I had taken Benefibre daily while on the pre-surgery and post surgery diet to avoid the constipation complications. I knew this would take effort on my part (modifying my diet and counting calories) but I also wish I knew that this was much easier to do with the band and I don't mind the time that it is taking to lose weight. No other wishes so far, but hopefully I am about 8 months away from reaching my goal.

I had the same problem, and I wrongly assumed, because I was mainly having protein shakes on the pre-surgery diet, that I wouldn't have a BM (bowel movement)....wrong, wrong, wrong! I had surgery and after surgery, I became impacted (and that required a doctor/hospital visit to fix). This affected the healing process and I was in pain and miserable for at least a week longer than I should have been. So you should try to sort this out now. There are several ways to prevent this from happening. Some have been discussed above (prune juice, milk of magnesia). I used Benefibre twice a day. You can add it to water or whatever liquids you are drinking. It has no taste and does not thicken or anything else. So water, tastes like water. Start now and don't leave this much longer. 4 to 5 days without a BM is too long. Good luck.

I too was in a lot of pain after surgery. The worst of it lasted for 2 days and I would take a liquid pain killer and gasex every 3 hours and then go back to bed (I had to sleep almost sitting up as I could barely get up from a horizontal position). By day 3, things were starting to improve. And after a week, I was on the road to recovery. It took about 1 month for me to feel completely normal again. So hang in there, it's early days and you will feel better soon.

I am very similar to hopefloats. I had my surgery in October and have lost 45 pounds and no fills yet. I can eat pretty much whatever I want (minor issues with salad rolls and sushi) but I have never been stuck or vomited. I find that I am not very hungry and when I do eat, I get full quickly. I am very lucky and hopefully this lasts until I lose all the weight I want to. I am open to getting a fill if/when I need one, but so far, so good.

I am about 3 months post-surgery and it took about 1 month for me to feel normal again. I still haven't started working out, other than walking. I may take up swimming/weights again in a couple of months.

Thanks for the post! I'm in Belize right now and I gotta tell you it feels great to be 45 pounds lighter than the last time I was here! Hopefully the next time I'm here I will have lost another 45 pounds. Keep up the good work and enjoy your pool this summer.