sweetsoutherngirl

It has been a while since I checked in here, but I am so happy to be back. As of today I am 25 pounds from my goal weight of 190. I have 7.4 cc in my 10 cc band and I am sooooooo in love with my band. We have our ups and downs, but we work together. I have been able to adjust my eating. I enjoy fruit, veggies, some breads but it has to be cut very thin and toasted. I am working out 5 days a week and I have found this has really helped me. I have had one unfill after I returned from vacation in July. I had been on several planes and I had no issues with food getting stuck or being tight. When I got home, the next day i was really tight and i was trying to drink warm liquids to help loosen it up, went back to soft foods for two days and still had the tightness. Then the heartburn started. I had it from the time i woke up until I went to sleep. After a week I went in and saw the doc. They had me do a barium swallow and took a xray. The fluid was moving through but very, very slow. My band and pouch looked good, but they were concerned with how uncomfortable I was. So the doc removed .2 cc and I had instant reflief!!! So I will be very careful the next time I fly and take greater percautions for myself. It was pretty scary because of the heartburn, tightness and I could not eat normally! A lot of people ask why I did this and I show them my before/after pics. I tell them about my high blood pressure at 31 and having to take meds, my feel swelling daily with normal activity, not being able to run/play with my children, etc. I am so happy I did this and I would recommend it to anyone who is thinking about weight loss surgery. The True Results location I go to has asked me to begin working with them and I am considering it. If I can help someone else on my journey, that is icing on the proverbial cake!

It has been a while since I have updated this blog. Today I am five months out and 38 pounds lighter! I am also two pounds from reaching one of my goals to lost 100 pounds. I feel great and have been told I am looking great! LOL! I have had four fills and think finally this last one is it. I have 7.5 CC's in my 10 CC band. I am still experimenting with which foods are ok. Beef is hard for me, but chicken and seafood are okay. I eat a lot of fruits and veggies, green tea and greek yogurt are a huge part of my fridge. I am still exercising 4-5 times a week, and I recently started running, which I really do hate, but it is good for me.LOL. I am here to tell you that this amazing tool will work for you as long as you work with it. Do not try to east around it, do not cheat yourself by not exercising. The hardest part is keeping going and every day is a struggle. Just keep going!

I went in for my fill appoinment and came out with...............NOTHING!! LOL! Looks like I have hit the green zone! I am going to take this month slow and see what happens. Since I first went to true results I have lost 49 pounds and 30 since surgery. I lost 8.5 last month and we confirmed I have 6.9 CC in my band. I told the nurse about my eating habits and I am afraid that more fluid may put me in the red zone, so I will just hang out here for this month and see how it goes. But I am over the moon happy about my progress so far. I hope that people that are researching this option see my story and know that if I can be successful, that they can too. Life is about choices and I am choosing to be happy and healthy!

I had the test and it took about a hour, I met the the doc for a little over a hour. The hardest part was getting the results from her.

Welcome to bandland!! Walk as much as you can to try to ease any gas pains! I am almost three months out and I could not be happier! Good luck!

Happy Cinco de Mayo!! This was always a fun day for me and ny hubby! Lots of friends, drinks, and food! Today will still be a fun day with all of the above, but a lot less for me. I have lost 26 pounds since my surgery on 2/15. It has been a slow loss and I an thankful for the gradual loss. However this month seems to been a super slow weight loss. I think the changes in my diet and exercise may be the cause of this. I have loss three pounds and I am hoping for another two before I check in at the doc on 5/9. The bruise I was complaining about last time went away about a week or so ago. I have included Iron with my vitamins to help offset this. I did get in my new vitamins from Celebrate. If you want to try a sample, you can order a great sample kit for 3.00 from them. It included a multi, calcium, iron, B12, etc. So I have been testing out different foods to see how I can handle them. I had some friend chicken and I did okay with it. Just have to remember to chew well. I am still struggling with making sure I do not eat too fast. It is like Palov and the dog. It hurts and sucks to get stuck, but for some reason my brain has not quite gotten this yet. I have not had bread of any kind. The thought of getting stuck with bread scares me! I just want to make sure that I do not do anything that would hurt me or my band. My best friend had her fluid measured to see exactly what she had because she did not think the nurse actually put the correct amount.Turns out she was right. The nurse wrote in the chart that she 5.7 CC and she had only filled her to 5. When they attempted to put all the fluid back in, it was too tight and she is not back at 3.7 until next month. I think I would have been a tiny bit pissed. As I said before I think if I get a fill this time I will request only a small one. I think I may be almost at the sweet spot, but we will see.

I am two months out from surgery and two fills down. I had my last fill two weeks ago and since then I have a huge bruise right over my port. I can also see the puncture mark. Does anyone else experience this? I have a appointment scheduled in two weeks and will see my surgeon also at that time. But could it be something that I am missing from my diet? I think I may switch to one of the bariatric vitamins also. Right now I take two centrum chewables, two viactiv for calcium and b12 as needed . I have been checking out the Celebrate website and I think I may go that way. The scale is still in the same place but TOM is over so I guess it will move again soon. But my clothes fit good and I am feeling great.

Seems as though my fills are always the week before TOM and then the scale is stuck for a week and a half. So I had my second fill last wed. and today I still way 240 even thought I have been eating right and exercising 4x a week. I am full time back in the gym and have started to work my core again. I guess I should just be patient, but it is frustrating. I am anxious to see if the .7 CC i got last week will move me to my sweet spot!

Mine was four weeks after my surgery. And my second one was exactly four weeks from there.

I am going through my closet and I have so many things that I can no longer wear. Lots of 3x and 2x tops, size 24-22 in jeans and slacks. I have summer dresses, size 2x and some 3x, a brand new coat that is a 2x. All of the clothes are in nice condtion and I would rather someone who really needs them to have them. I would be willing to ship them ( you pay the shipping) or if you are in Houston, we can meet up. I know how expensive it is to buy new clothes when you are running through the sizes so fast . I will take some pics later today. If you are intrested, please inbox me.

I dont want them if I dont need them. It seems to me that it would be a recipe for disaster, inviting complications and such.

Today I had my second fill. I have a 10 CC band and after today I have 6.7 CC's in my band. I had 5 cc's from surgery, got 1 at my first fill and today I got .7CC. I have been able to eat way more than I am comfortable with and I believe my weight loss this past month ( 9 pounds) has been a huge perk to the fact that I am back in the gym full time. I asked her would it be necessary for me to have a fill next month because it seems as though I am on the high side of having fluid in my band and I dont know anyone that really has this much without having hit the green zone. She said no, we would just see how well of a month I have this month. I felt really sick to my stomach after the fill and did not eat until about 2pm today(soup). Seems as though the adjustment today had me really on the full side and I had the hiccups afterwards I am hoping this month will have the same results as last. It seems that the best thing for me to do is take day to day.

I am six weeks out and I have started to use my straw again. I feel like I can control my sips better. No problems so far.

I am feeling so good. I have my appointment for a second fill on 4/11 and so far this past month I have lost 7 pounds and I am wondering about another fill. I have found myself snacking in between meals. They are healthy snacks but I am snacking where I was not before. I am in a size 18 which is getting more loose every day, so I guess inches are being lost also. I am back at the gym full time and that is a great feeling. I had to lose a chunk of weight to qualify for my surgery.Before I got approved, I started on my weight loss journey and lost 60 pounds through diet and exercise. Since surgery I have lost 21 pounds. I am going to Vegas in July and would really like to possibly hit the 100 pound mark by June 15th. So we are on the road to 100!!! Weight loss my friends is hard...probably one of the hardest things to do. It is not pretty, it sucks and you have to work hard. No matter which path you choose. I know for me that choosing the band, was choosing to save and improve my quality of life. The physical perks are nice, but it feels good to know that I am able to play with my kids, climb stairs without being winded and to really like the me in the mirror that is looking back instead of getting dressed and only looking from the shoulders up. It is also about learning to love me again... So I hope on this road we can all learn to love ourselves again.

I was not allowed until six weeks after, which was this past week. I also live in texas and we have a pool. It has been torture watching the family swim without me,

So I knew the day would come, but I have been so careful. I chew until I cant chew anymore but over the weekend, I had my first major stuck episode. My hubby had to be rushed in for emergency surgery on Saturday and my family brought food for myself and my kids. I decided to have a couple bites of fried fish and I did not chew well at all. It was horrible. I felt like I was being stabbed in the side. It took about five minutes for everything to pass, but the pain was awful. So lesson learned, chew carefully.

Yay!! Very good info. Now the fun begins!!

I agree with Shelley. I dont think a cleanse would be needed since you have been doing the pre-op diet.

Hang in there! I promise there is light at the end.

My energy is doing ok, but if I dont take the B12 I can really feel the lack of it. When is your first fill phatkat?

One of the best things I have re-discovered was a body shaper! I love mine! I got it at Lane Bryant from Cacique and it was only 45.00. As I am losing, I thought it was a good idea to make sure that I keep things..ummm... sucked in! LOL! I remember after my first child was born my grandmother and mother both kept telling me to wear this god awful girdle and I refused. Oh how many times I have wished I had worn it to keep this tummy from not being so flabby. With mine on, overall I am three inches "slimmer" It is also very comfortable, and does not roll down. The only thing that is a bit of trouble is when nature calls and then I have to basically get undressed to go. I have a friend who had the sleeve and she has been wearing one every day and today I saw her without one. She went from a 26 to a 14 in about four months and she has really done well wearing her body shaper every day. She looks amazing! Tomorrow is six weeks since my surgery and I feel good. I have a second fill on 4/11., if I need it. I have gone from a size 24 from when I first started my weight loss journey, to a loose size 18 today. I am 55 pounds from my goal.I am also back on my regular gym schedule and that feels awesome! I am toying with the idea of maybe buying a swimsuit this summer..... Well I will think about it

I got that from someone I expected to be my biggest support, my mom. Any surgery is going to have risks. This is one of the safest and has the shortest recovery time. I asked a ton of questions and felt so at ease when I went it. My surgeon was great. I was banded on 2/15 and I feel great. The first few days were rough for me but it took about a week or so before I was 100%. I found so much information and support here, and hopefully you will too!

I will have to see if she is open to maybe teaming up, but I can not allow her to try and de-rail me. I will say again I am no expert in any of this but I know if we follow the rules that we have a better chance to succeed.