Violet953

Well, lucky you! You lost the weight in a very unhealthy way by not exercising..and didn't listen to what your doctor told you. That is not reality for most of us here...so the fact that you lost all the weight is your case..not everybody elses...I for sure don't want to loose my muscle ...I want my body to be strong and healthy..but ppl are gonna do what they want...that's what I have to come to realize...and its sad. Exercise does nothing for loose skin that's already established yeah...but I know for a fact that it helps prevent it...from more than one person on here! Sure it doesn't work for everybody...but it definitely helps ..and makes you stronger and healthier!

G75funk- GIRL! Why wouldn't you want to be on the billboard??? lol...that is so cool!!!! That's when you KNOW you did an amazing job! You listened to your surgeon and ate less AND worked out! Who knew? It worked without getting loose skin? Gee wow, never thought that would happen! And if you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic...

I didn't use a straw at first...from what I heard here about not doing it! But to be honest I don't even remember my doctor telling me not to...or the dietitian...The only time I do drink out of one is when I get an iced coffee...and that isn't every day. And I definitely don't drink carbonated beverages. But I do take my time and drink slowly ..because I always have even before the band..and I have not had any problems at all with it.

So hummingbird how much loose skin do you have?

Hey...what can I say...I was pretty annoyed when I made this post and while I have cooled down...I still pretty much feel the same way...I don't want to do this the unhealthy way...I want to do it the healthy way. I want to be active and toned not only for my body...but for my mind. I went into this wanting to change my lifestyle- that means not only eating less, but getting off my butt and working out everyday. How can I make a lifestyle change if I'm still sitting on the couch all day? I really do think you need both for more ways than one. And Kartman is very right...your body is designed to MOVE...it is SO unhealthy to just waste away your muscles with no exercise and fast weight loss...and no muscle is what causes loose skin!!!!!!

Hey hun...you look absolutely stunning! You must be so happy... Congrats! How did you do it? Can you give us some advice? Did you exercise a lot? You look like you have no loose skin. Anyway, very happy for ya!

Allison- for every one of you, there are 100 other people who need to exercise to make this work...so its just not realistic to think that you can just loose the weight as you did without it. But honestly, while that is really awesome and I'm happy for you...don't you think you would have done better and toned your body the whole time if you exercised this past 8 months? That's why I think its so important...I don't want loose skin...and I really don't want to loose the weight super fast so that my body stays tight. I also would like to say that while yes I do enjoy exercising a lot of times...esp. after I have gotten through the first half of it, the other half is easy for me..because I feel like I'm giving up if I don't just finish it...there are plenty of other times that I don't feel like it...whether its I'm just not feelin it or my ankles are hurting me like crazy...I just force myself to do it. I don't even go to the gym! I really don't like the gym...I do mine right at home in front of my tv whenever I feel like it. I do Walk Away The Pounds with Leslie Sansone DVDs and I change it up between the 3,4, and 5 miles. I never said it was always a blast to do- but its something we SHOULD be doing.

I live in Connecticut too and I'm sorry to say but there is no way to expedite this process unless you are paying for the surgery yourself. I have Husky/Medicaid too and it took me over a year to get everything together...finally had surgery on February 8th. The reason why it takes so long is because the surgeon himself's office had to weigh me every month for the six month requirement. I was not able to use anything from my primary ..and in fact really didn't need much from my primary for the surgery...just the pre-op physical I believe...I had to go through many many tests as you will find out..which took months to finish. I go to Dr. Tousignant in Norwich, CT and had my surgery at Backus hospital...I love my surgeon so much, he is really great..super nice and extremely smart..my surgery went perfectly too. But like I said, there is no way to make this go faster...you just need to find a surgeon as soon as you possibly can and get this going! The time that you will have right now until surgery, you should take to loose some weight before surgery, because that is what they will ask you to do. I was told i had to loose 50 pounds before surgery, ended up loosing 30 but since they saw I was making progress, that was all they needed. If you would like to talk to me, all you have to do is message me on here.

Hey girl! That's exactly how I am too. I do Walk Away The Pounds Dvds at home and I've been making myself do 3-5 miles a night and if I go into it not wanting to...once I get that 2 miles done I know I can finish the rest...its not as bad as you think...just DO IT.

To those of you who say you don't have time for exercise or you don't like to...I'm sorry but to me all I hear is excuses excuses. Yeah you may have a busy lifestyle but after getting the lapband put into your body to make a "lifestyle change" how can you do that without getting some exercise in? What is an hour out of your entire day? You have 23 hours to do everything else you need to do..and if you know you will tone your body and loose even more weight from it why wouldn't you take advantage of that? I think you guys need to step it up and quit making so many excuses...I have a life too...a job, family, boyfriend, pets, house to take care of, appts to go to in between everything else..and every single night I come home and get my exercise in. I have lymophdema in my legs and as much as it hurts to be on my feet and my ankles are so big it looks unhuman but I do not miss it...because I didn't get this lap band put in me to just sit back and watch the weight fall off...I'm working my ass off and don't understand why you can't either!!! Do you want to end up like the people on here who are making a post in 1 or 2 years saying they only lost 30 pounds? If not, you need to make the change now...and if you don't want to..then I really don't understand why you got the band in the first place.

I totally agree with you ...just today I was annoyed cuz I couldn't finish my food...but we need to get used to the fact that we can't eat that much anymore! I still make plates that have wayy too much food for me to finish. You are right though it shouldn't be something that annoys us if its going to make us loose the weight! This is why we did this!

This is normal. The pain meds make you constipated...I think it was about 4 or 5 days for me so I called the doctor and she told me to take miralax or milk of magnesia. I chose the milk of mag cuz its sooo much cheaper and I'm really glad I did cuz just 2 doses and I was able to go ...actually I went from not going to diareah for about 2 days lol but hey at least it came out and kinda cleaned me out...WAYY better than trying to **** out a huge turd!! And trust me I've been there many times- it hurts SO bad. I have been on the toilet screaming before ready to go to the hospital...finally I got a glove and a plastic spoon and you figure out the rest. LMAO so disgusting! So take something ASAP. More than likely that is what they are gonna tell you if you call the docs.

That's what happened to me too...It's very normal. I am trying my best not to eat too much, and I'm exercising like crazy...My first fill is not until the 8th and I can't wait because I have very little restriction!! You just have to fight those hunger pains, but my doctor told me to increase my calories and it would help...so that's what I did....It does help...mine pretty much went away but there are times where I get them still. It's not nearly as bad as the first couple weeks of surgery though!

You did soo wonderfully! You look amazing! Thanx for the pix that was so cool! I would love to know about the exercise as well- cuz that's what I'm doing! 3-5 miles a night!

Hey there....I am in "bandster hell" too! But you know what I'm doing to loose right now? Exercise!!!! If I were you, I would do a lot more than just 30 minutes of exercise. Bump it up to 45 mins to an hour. I do anywhere from 45 mins to an hour and a half every day. Yes it is hard...sometimes I have to talk myself through it, but I find the more I do this, the better I feel and the more I enjoy it. I am loosing inches like crazy right now...next it will be weight, and I don't get my fill until the 8th either...right now I have no restriction....well somewhat...I can't eat as much as I used to that's for sure. But I def. want more restriction and I know that is what's gonna make the pounds melt off!

Hey Meredith! I LOVE doing Walk Away The Pounds! I love Leslie! My mom got me her VHS tapes years ago and I lost 20 pounds then doing it...mind you I was a lot thinner and younger...but it still made me loose today just as good maybe even better. I think the five mile is the best because its nice and fast pace...and you can do as many miles as you want....I try my darn best to aim to do the whole five miles but sometimes I just do two or three from that one. I feel like, once I get through the first 2 miles, why not keep going and finish the rest? I think the first 2 miles are the hardest when I'm not into working out on certain days, but it gives me the motivation to keep going and do more and more...whats another 20 minutes you know? That's how I see it. I just did 2 miles of the five mile DVD tonight, I would have done more but I have an awful yeast infection right now and it was bothering me. I try to do this every single day, and feel very guilty if there is a day that I don't get it done. Plus it makes me feel good during and afterwards, makes me feel alive! I'm gonna add you as a buddy now!

I'm really glad you went ...although I don't think you would have been able to wait any longer anyway...good luck I'm sure you will start feeling way better now that you have nourishment and hydration again!

See!? I told you you'd get approved and would be banded this year! I knew it!!!!!! I'm so happy for you hun...it happened sooner than you thought huh?! And hey- you can do it- I lost almost 30 pounds before surgery exercising doing walk away the pounds DVDS. I still do it after the band. This is a great time for you to prepare and you don't have to worry about anything now, just getting ready!!! Congrats!! Feels great after allllll that huh?

Hey girl when did you have your band put in?? Cuz I am 2 weeks out and just started exercising a couple of days ago. I would try it and see how it goes for you...you should know it if its too much.....like if it bothers your port area or something. But my surgeon did tell me that even the most vigorous of exercises will not disrupt the port site. I hope that is true...my incisions are still healing so I do hurt a little when I push too hard...but I know I will be fine once time goes on...I just really wanna get the exercise going you know? I do Walk Away The Pounds and while it is a lot milder than insanity or px90...it kicks my butt! And I keep it moving ...try my best to do 5 miles a day!

Yeah 4 days????? That is not good girl!!!!!! I'm nervous for you right now!!!!!!! I wouldn't be surprised if you fainted by now! PLEASE get to that surgeon ASAP!

I TOTALLY understand how you feel! After I started exercising (pre-band) and lost almost 30 pounds on my own, I started feeling amazing...and the sex definitely increased. My boyfriend bought me this shirt that I just felt soo sexy in. He compliments me like crazy now...and the best part is I feel great. I am getting my life back...all aspects of it. Isn't it awesome????

Ugh I was in your shoes too just a few months ago. It took me over a year to get everything done too! It sounds like you are very close though...I had many delays and played the waiting game for many months ...I was supposed to be banded in October, then November, the surgeon even said himself I would be banded in December!!! Obviously that didn't work out because of unexpected tests and insurance problems...Then finally I got the good news that my insurance approved it in January....was banded a couple of weeks ago. I too thought it would never happen because of all the problems ...but its very normal. Some people get right to their surgery, and some have to wait a freakin year that's just how it goes. I'm sorry it had to happen to you but I know you will be banded this year. Don't let them do this to you anymore- call them up and demand answers as to why they never sent it out, keeping you on pins and needles for 2 weeks for absolutely nothing. If anyone should know it should be them that this process is nerve-racking for us! They should be more on top of things and more caring as far as I'm concerned. Tell them you want to know exactly when the paperwork is sent out, so you can call your insurance company yourself until you find out the good news. Good luck and I know you will be banded very soon...please let us know when you get approved!!!!

It annoyed me too at first, because my goal is 180...but you have to consider ones height also. A lot of those who weigh 199 or so may only be about 5 feet tall or shorter, so their normal weight would probably be under 120.

Hi Lou. You have made a great decision and it will change your life! I am only a week post op and I can feel my life changing already. For the better. I can't think of anymore questions other than the ones listed but I just wanted to comment about your kid being teased about your weight. Isn't that just terrible? I remember as a child in grade school, there were certain members of my class who made fun of me because my parents were fat. I would just get so angry with them because it hurt to have my parents made fun of like that, I loved them so much it didn't matter! I remember crying about it..My dad later had a talk with those kids parents because I must have told him about it...and of course as years went on I got made fun of as well because of my weight. My mom ended up getting gastric bypass and she is skinny now and doing great. Some kids can just be so cruel! Don't worry though everything will change and those bratty kids won't have nothin to say then!

I hear this is very common. My mom had gastric bypass 11 years ago and she says it has gotten better over the years, but that thought process is STILL there. Kinda sad huh? She looks amazing but she tells me this from time to time, that until she looks in the mirror she still feels like a fat person.