myjourneyagain

Finally hit the 100lb weight loss. I feel great. People are beginning to notice the new me. I love all the compliments. Exercising everyday & it's getting easier. Love buying smaller clothes. I have another 100 to lose. Probably will take me a year. Looking forward to what the next year brings.

5 Months Post op & have lost 100lbs. Off of my insulin shots & cholesterol meds. Workout everyday & feel fantastic. Have another 100 to lose. Excited what lays ahead this next year

I am now able to sleep without using bi pap! Woot woot!
I have lost 97 lbs in 7 short months and my stick thin sister n law offered me some of her clothing yesterday. She really believes they would fit me! I said what? You must be crazy, you tiny little clothes will never fit me. I am looking forward to seeing if they will but the most important thing is that others are seeing the significant change to my body.
I can workout for an hour a day and I feel so fantastic afterwards. That is a very cool feeling!
The most important wins are, my diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, reflux and stage 3 kidney disease are all in remission.

I just heard that I received approval for my revision surgery through Aetna. It will be covered 90% as well. Soo excited for another chance and to be rid of this awful reflux. Im hoping for surgery the beginning of June. This Xmas i hope to have a new me this year.

My weight was 410. Surgery was Dec 18th. So I'm 4 months post open. Have lost 90lbs. Totally off of my insulin shots. Walking 2 miles daily &-working out at the gym. Want to lose 200lbs total. Hopefully over the next year I'll accomplish my goal

I'm 4 months post op. Had surgery on Dec 18th. I'm down 94 lbs. Should be at 100 in about 3 weeks. Then want to lose another 100 over the next year. I drink Premier Protein shakes & eat a lot of Lean Cuisines. I'm lucky if I get 1000 calories in a day. Feel better than I ever have. Walking & working out at the gym daily. People are beginning to notice the new me. I was diabetic & I'm totally off my insulin. Off my cholesterol meds. I like the new me & don't want to go back

At 3 weeks you can have
Baked fish, canned chicken
Canned tuna, egg whites, creamy Peanut Butter ( 1 tbsp) a day, low fat cottage cheese
Canned fruit no sugar I get fruit cups, bananas, soft cooked or pureed vegetables. Light yogurt
Deli meat turkey breast sliced thin

The bypass has made me feel truly full for the first time in my life. With band, I never felt full and would end up vomiting.

i dont do ham......but thinking of getting me a piece of chicken breast
and use a mallet, flatten that thing out in place of ham...
and add me some onion/spinach/tomato before going in oven..
what you think?
great post

Hi Everyone,
I thought I would join this website for support because I need virtual support due to my busy travel schedule for work. I was banded 14 months ago and my surgery went very well. I had surgery on a Monday and was back to work on Wednesday. Not sure I would recommend that to everyone but I did not want anyone to know I had a lapband at work so I minimized my time away. Thankfully, I sit at a desk and it was easy on the body to return to work.
The only issue I had after surgery was my band was actually too tight. I did not know this until I went in for my post op checkup. I had mentioned it was taking at least an hour to drink a Protein drink and I was still having some gas pain. Turns out my band was too tight and they deflated it a bit and all was well again.
I did experience some nausea after surgery but had a gel to rub on my wrist and used that for just a couple days after surgery. I did not take any of the pain medication. I am a bit crazy about refusing to take drugs of any kind so I just toughed out the pain.
My journey so far is going ok. I want to say that my objective to getting a lapband was to regain my active lifestyle that I sorely missed. I missed keeping up and doing active things with my husband and teenage son. Yes, I wanted to lose weight but knew by regaining the lifestyle I wanted, the weight loss would come with it. Even after 14 months, I have lost 65lbs. Many others have lost much, much more. Some of this is my fault and not sticking to plan and some of it is due to my crazy work and school schedule. Since February, I have been traveling every week about 3 out of 4 weeks of each month. As time goes along, I am learning how to adapt to living with my band while on the road.
I have been on this plateau and have not lost any weight in 5 months. But, I have lost a size in pants and shirts. So, I know my body is still changing and the scale will eventually catch up. I used to be a slave to the scale but not anymore. I let my clothes determine how I feel about my weight loss.
I started exercising more about 3 months ago and that is really helping. I feel even better. Sure can't wait to be able to run again.
This is all still a new journey for me. I am always learning something new or learning more about how my band feels or reacts. I am still figuring out what I can and can't eat. I am better at looking at a certain food and determining if my band will tolerate it. I know my band does not tolerate beef, a hamburger or rubbery meat. My band is not a fan of peas either. My band is also sensitive to changes in seasonal allergies and mucus. I learned in support group that liquid aloe vera might help and when I tried it, I found it works great for me and means I can avoid taking medicine - which I hate and avoid as much as I can.
I look forward to learning and sharing.
Have a BLESSED day,
LightningRod

I agree, if you are struggling with fluids you need to call your doctor ASAP. Let him decide if you need a small unfill.

Not being able to drink any fluids is a potentially dangerous situation. Dehydration is a risk that can put you in the hospital.
I would definitely call your surgeon's office and ask for their opinion. Sometimes the restriction will ease after a day or so,, however not being able to have even Water is not acceptable. It reads to me that you are too tight.
Call your physician ASAP.

Just be really careful... I wasn't able to get down Water about two weeks ago and had to go in and have Fluid removed... I would say give till tomorrow to see if anything changes and if not def make an appt bc you'll run the risk of stretching it when you switch to something more solid and that def stinks!!

As many of you know, I was stuck for more than a month. I was monitoring my calories, getting in all my Protein and exercising, yet the scale didn't budge. I know, plateaus are normal, but they still suck. Around the time the plateau hit I also started taking birth control pills. I even gained 2 pounds, which for me was the deal breaker. I had to find a way to break the plateau and start losing again.
So I started researching. Low carb, high carb, no carb, etc. I see so many variations on here! What's right? What's wrong? I already knew it was a matter of choice without a clear right or wrong answer, but I also knew individual body needs also played a very big part in it. During my research I kept coming across something called carb cycling, so I decided to look more into it.
Carb cycling is essentially trying to optimize your metabolism by alternating high and low carb days. Body builders often do this to build muscle and burn fat before a contest but it's also very helpful for weight loss. Then one day I turned on Doctor Oz...and wouldn't you know it... it was an episode on carb cycling. Chris Powell, of The Biggest Loser, was on his show talking about he has all the contestants on the show carb cycle and how he does it. For me, this was the point I decided to give carb cycling a try.
Chris Powell's method is specifically for weight loss so I decided to go with his (there's many out there). He has an excellent book called “Choose to Lose: The 7-Day Carb Cycle Solution”.
His theory: No carb diets don't work. It's not sustainable long term and eventually it significantly slows the metabolism. Worse, people who cut out carbs usually end up gaining all their weight back and then some when they do suddenly reintroduce carbs. Carbs are the energy block of the body and a long term lack of carbs will cause the thyroid to slow down significantly.
7 day diet/carb cycling: High carb day followed by low carb day, alternating daily. Start on a high carb day and always eat within 30 minutes of waking up in the morning. Always limit or omit carbs after 6pm.
All this is within your own personal daily calorie allowance.
High carb day/energy day:
Preferably complex carbs. Protein, low fat. unlimited veggies.

Low carb day/burn day:
A little carb in the morning to boost metabolism
Cut carbs the rest of the day.
Protien, healthy fats, unlimited veggies

3 of each/low carb and high carb. 7th day is cheat day
Cheat day:
Boost calories to boost metabolism
Boost to no more than 1000 extra calories a day
Cheat at Breakfast and lunch, not dinner. 6-12pm “behave”
Cheat at a table. Not in a car, or at a sofa, etc. No “hypno binging”
No leftovers allowed.

Mind you, this is the short version of all this. If this interests you, I'd strongly suggest buying his book for a better understanding. It's very enlightening.
...So this is what I've done for the last week. I am very happy to say, carb cycling broke my plateau, despite still being on the birth control pill too. I lost 5.4 pounds this week!
I have decided I am going to continue to carb cycle. I am not a fan of the low carb days, but I am getting more used to them. Plus, I find my "carb cravings" have all but disappeared since starting this- something I didn't think possible.
For me, it's working. I just thought I'd share the results of my little self experiment

. I can relate totally. When I started this journey my measurements were 44/42/77. Size 4x on the bottom.I am now 34/28/37. Size medium or 8/10 on bottom now. Evidentially I am not as much of a pear as I thought I was. But I still have fat thighs...actually now it's just flabby skin, knees and ankles. It's horrible to have come this way and still deal with it... But I am going to make a conscience effort to exercise and see if that will tighten it up a bit. You are exercising during your journey which I did not so I bet you will not have all the flab.
Keep doing what you are doing!
I live in a warm climate so winters weren't an issue but I did where lots of leggings and tunics last winter which a forgiving to heavy bottom gals.

I think the big problem is people say "a pound a fat is the same as a pound of muscle". This is very true, but by volume there is a big difference because muscle is much more dense than fat. So when comparing them it shouldn't be by weight but by volume.
In other words, if you have a cup of muscle it will weigh more than a cup of fat.
This is why when you build muscle, your weight loss will temporarily stall, possibly even increase. But, your inches will decrease.
Muscle DOES weigh more than fat when you are considering volume- which is what we're comparing. Not pound vs. pound.

Look for trousers that are designed with roomier "seat" and thighs; and smaller waist'; they might be a better fit for you. I have trouble with bottoms in general because I don't want to or should wear "low rise". If you are larger than size 12 no one should wear low rise.

It takes time, it will keep coming off. I had the same problem, I had to shop around a lot to find the "curvy" jeans/pants! I hate wearing a belt too. I lived in dresses for quite some time too. I think I will always be curvy, but now a smaller curvy! Congrats on your weight loss and keep going!

Wow! 71 pounds lost, I can not wait to be where you are. I have never in my life lost 71 pounds but I want that to happen to me. You are an inspiration! Keep it up, you are doing great.

CG is correct, (thanks for posting this) A pound is a pound is a pound! Think of it this way though. If you would look at a pound of fat (use Jello as the fat) and a pound of muscle (use a chicken breast) which one looks bigger. The fat does. So the reason you get smaller when exercising is that as you are building muscle you are burning fat. Muscle is much toner than fat so you look smaller. I weigh 130 lbs, have 25% body fat and look like I weigh around 120lbs. Constantly I have people who do not believe I weigh as much as I do and think I am now to thin. I am toned, I have done strength training consistently the past 8 months, have only lost 30 lbs but have lost multiple inches. I lost 30 plus inches off my entire body in that same amount of time, I had times when I lost weight and no inches and sometimes I lost inches and gained weight. The scale can not be the only focus of getting healthy, you have to take the whole package.

CG what a girl , you are so right a lb. is a lb. I guess 1 lb of muscle just looks so much better then 1 lb of FAT. Just like tan fat looks better then white fat think about it.
Fat knees well I just looked and one day they were gone, I do do Water areboics I don't like to sweat ya know... Southern women glow......

What you are doing is working and muscle weighs more then fat. But just in case you are not happy at the end loss of 100lbs then look into Lipo or plastic sugery.
I hate my arms... hate to excercise and surgery is just not worth the cost or pain at my age so I have decided that I will not go sleeveless.... and I live in Florida..
I guess I look at my face and it is not moon shape anymore and I have one chin... I look at my stomache and I can look down and see my feet.....my butt has disappeared and I don't have fat knees... fat knees who has fat knees I did. so with all I 've lost I guess having bat wing arms is doable , I wouldn't trade them for the solid fat ones I had before.
What I am saying is look at how much you have lost and how hard you are working and be happy . If in the end you can't get rid of those hips all the way then you have surgical opitions or you can just learn to dress for them and live with them. Good Luck you are doing great....

But are those solid thighs or jiggly thighs?!! 71 pounds down, you are amazing.
Try to be kinder to yourself, or I will have to stalk you daily to cheer you on! : )

sounds like muscle weight to me. Keep doing what you are doing and the weight will follow. Losing inches is a very good thing.

I dealt with most of my mommy issues a few years back. I had it out with her and she admitted that she was jealous of me because I was a better mom than her, that I had it all together and she never did.
I was stunned. Who is jealous of their own successful kid? Shows how much help SHE needs not me.
I did not and will not tell my mom that I was banded. She couldn't handle it. As adult children of controlling parents we do not realize how much power we have. They put us in the child/parent relationship every time they become judgmental, or we allow ourselves to get put in that relationship. As soon as you refuse to be defensive and break out of feeling like you must act like we did when we were kids then we take control.
My mom still is a pain but when she steps out of line she hears it. It's out of compassion for her that I will take time to explain thing to her or still even call her.
Since you've already told your mom I'd suggest setting boundaries. For example, she came to the dr with you and you knew she was going to rat you out. What a better place that a dr office to teach your mom about respect. "I'm sorry mom, you cannot come in to the exam room with me. This is about me, not you." The whole staff would have been on your side with Hippa law and all. Then after your visit you could have had the dr call her in to say " Tomato Soup is fine". That way she knows if she wants to be a part she must behave.
I'm a firm believer in we teach people how to treat us. Took me YEARS to figure out how to defend myself but damn it if it don't feel good!