Jackie Murphy

Try the Unjury unflavored in orange juice...can't taste it or even detect it...that's the only way I get all my Protein in....I agree it's nasty in yogurt, milk and flavored waters....

Try the Unjury unflavored in orange juice...can't taste it or even detect it...that's the only way I get all my Protein in....I agree it's nasty in yogurt, milk and flavored waters....

My name is Robyn, I had the lap band put on on Dec 26, 2010. It is the best decision I made in my life. My top weight was about 320lbs. My family doctor has it at 314lb, but when I had an appointment I would not eat for a couple days so I know the 314lb was wrong. The day or my surgery I weighed 295lbs. I just got weighed the other day and it was 157lbs. I lost a whole person I am the strongest, thinest, healthest, and the happiest I have ever been. I thank God everyday for this medical miracle they call the lap band. I tried for years to lose weight with all kinds of diets I lost and gained I felt like a yo yo. It was easy to change my life style when the help of the band. I was told by my doctor that with the band I would only lose about 45-55lbs a year, but with excersise I lost alot more. I never had a goal weight in mind I just wanted to be at a healthy weight for my health. I got about 10lbs to go. I went from a size 26 womens, to a 5 junior, and almost in a size 3. People always tell me I look like I weigh 120. lol and don't want me to lose anymore, in reality I weigh 157lbs. The doctor says muscle weighs more than fat so I am at the good weight but the BMI charts I still have alittle way to go. I FEEL GREAT!!!! My daughter had the stomache bypass and has lost 160-lbs in the years but she is having alot of trouble with Vitamins deficency and can't seem to maintain her weight, and also she has 12 cavities in her mouth due to the Calcium loss. She does take the supplments but it doesn't seem to help. I tried to talk her out of that surgery, but she didn't want to excersise and wanted to lose it fast. I do have some loss skin but not that much, I am 47 years old. If you listen to the doctors and get excersise, anyone can have the sucess I have had. I LOVE MY LAP BAND, and recommend it to everybody thats thinking of that type of surgery. I wouldn't recommend any other type.

Okay so we all know that when asked why we want to lose weight our answer usually sounds something like this..."I want to be healthy" or something like that. Am I right? Well honestly my real reason is because I want to shop! I want to never have to walk into Lane Bryant or Ashley Stewart ever again!

I was banded July 10th and i am averaging about 8lbs lost a month since surgery....(I also was a low BMIer of 35 to start with high blood pressure and high cholesterol)...my PCP said 10 more lbs and I can come off of both meds!

I was banded July 10th and i am averaging about 8lbs lost a month since surgery....(I also was a low BMIer of 35 to start with high blood pressure and high cholesterol)...my PCP said 10 more lbs and I can come off of both meds!

I think the statistics are 35% of your excess weight they tell you is what they project you will loose....could he have said 30to 40 % of excess lbs and not 30-40 lbs? I was only a BMI of 35and i have already lost 27 lbs since pre-op and i was banded 7/10/2012.
The carbonation is a definite no no! Steak - granted i only have 1.5ccs in my band and have had steak without problems...if you a good quality steak and chew chew chew with small bites...
heck i have gotten stuck,pb and vomitted on mashed sweet potatoes...

Sometimes your body has to get used to the weight loss and it goes into survival mode. Stick with it and try not to let it frustrate you to much. My Wife hid the scale on me because I became to obsessed with it. I was weighing in daily for a very long time.

Welcome Mike!

I will be banded on July 10th!

Started my shakes today!!! 2 weeks!! Here I go!

I was banded on 4/3/12. I went through and array of emotions. Fear, anxiety, excitement, and frustration. My fear was what if I failed yet again. I tried and failed soooo many diets. Anxiety about the pain during recovery. Excitement when I lost 4 dress sizes and was able to wear clothes that I haven't wore in years. Frustration when after 2 fills, I still didn't have restriction. Today, I am in the yellow/light green zone. I am very happy with my band. Your fears are normal but please don't allow it to hinder your success. My advice is to share your fears with your doctor, attend support groups, and continue to utilize this site. My only regret is not getting banded years ago. Feeling healthier and having more energy trumps any amount of pain that I experienced during recovery.

Cupcake, I know how your feeling. I am scheduled for the 6th and freaking out also. My pre op diet is kicking my a$$, hardest thing I ever did. Having that said, it doesn't take away from my mental satisfaction that I am actually doing something about my weight. You are 3x younger than me and my advise is that your so smart to do this before you go through menopause and all the other crap we women have to go through getting older.
I always think of 10 yrs down the road. What if I am facing open heart surgery, eye, kidney etc. problems because of diabetes. I look back and say "hmmm, that simple operation would of taken care of all this"
I hope I helped here. Please feel free to message me if you need to talk!

We will be just fine!! I am scheduled on July 10th and I know the nerves are bound to kick in...but right now I am just excited and anxious to start my new life.
Remember how you feel everytime you do something that you are miserable doing because of the weight...or how you look in the mirror...or when your doctor gives you yet more bad news about your health? Well think about that and then think about the joy you will have when all of that no longer happens...it is so worth a few days or even a week of pain to get to that healthy person we are on the inside.

I THINK EVERYONE HAS ALL OF THOSE THOUGHTS. I KNOW I DID.I WAS BANDED ON 3/21/12. SINCE THE SURGERY I AM DOWN 24 LBS., AND TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH I ONLY WISH I HAD THE SURGERY SOONER. I THINK THE ONLY 2 TIMES I HAVE EVER QUESTIONED MY DECISION TO HAVE SURGERY WAS DAY 3 WHEN I STILL VERY BLOATED AND FILL OF GAS, AND THE FIRST TIME I HAD A FILL AND MY DR HAD A HARD TIME FINDING THE PORT BECAUSE ITS IN SOOO DEEP. AND ALL YOU HAVE TO KEEP TELLING YOUR SELF IS THAT YOU CAN DO THIS AND I FIND THAT GOING ON THESE BOARDS AND SEE THAT OTHER PEOPLE ARE GOING THRU OR HAVE BEEN THRU WHAT YO GOING THRU HELPS ALOT!

I am disappointed, I wrote a long and elaborate post to respond to this and my computer failed and deleted it....
Essentially, I am getting banded July 6th and share many of your concerns (or did). My big fears are how people will react to my weight loss and change in diet (no more chugging beers and eating pizzas with the boys). How I will like my new body (will I be a bag of skin? Will I lose weight in the right places?). And how I will cope with not having food as a comfort (I am seeking out support - therapy, overeaters anonymous, this forum, trying to start journaling). For me, as a type-A person who likes to do things right and be the best, a huge part of my anxiety was the food. Getting my supplements, taking the right Vitamins, following the rules so I don't make myself sick by being ignorant.
What really eased my mind was making a list of the things I needed, calling my Drs office and asking questions when I didn't understand the packet, posting on here for more variety/first hand experience with these issues, and then actually going out and making the purchases to prepare my self to be successful. I talked to my doctor about scars and found out about/opted for single incision. I got my Vitamins, found Protein powder/shakes I like, started tracking my calories (myfitnesspal.com), and bought a lapband specific cook book. I youtubed all sorts of skin remedies (I am using MSM and Biotin, and stopped tanning + more). I bought a fitness tracker (fitbit) and just set myself up for success. I ate through the excess food in my house that I wouldn't be allowed to have preop and post surgery so that it wasn't a temptation later. I made a bucket list of 10 foods I knew I would miss or restaurants I had been dying to try and I ate them all before starting my preop diet. I tried to count the calories and track them and see what I was really eating and I even took note of how I felt after each meal (to be honest when I really thought about the food, it wasn't as good as it was in my imagination). Thinking about my food I was also able to actually feel being full (not that that really stopped me from eating what I am kind of considering 'my last meals').
As for some of your direct questions, the pain can be monitored by pain killers that your Dr will prescribe. And the pain of surgery will last a few weeks most, but the emotional pain of being obese.... maybe we'll never fully kick that. Not to mention the physical pain of being obese -- chaffing, clothes pinching, sweating, walking far, stairs, sore feet, back pain, broken ankles (I fall all the time being fat and having awful balance). The reason I am doing the band instead of other bariatric surgery is because if I regret it, I can reverse it. You can get a 100% unfill, or the band removed completely. I can almost promise you will regret not getting it in a few years more than you regret getting it. I don't know if your regret is cost related (I am lucky that my insurance is paying), but when I talked to my surgeon, he asked why I decided now. I told him I got insurance that would cover it, and he said "but if you think about all the costs you have from being obese, is the band really that expensive?". I went home and crunched the numbers and I spent >$15,000 last year on food/fad diets/trainers/gyms/fat people clothes/obesity related drs appts/stretchmark creams/herbal remedies. The band costs well below that and will maybe even SAVE YOU money. I still can't imagine what it will be like not to tear through the only pair of jeans ($80/pair) that fit my body well every 3 months, and not having the perpetual "food drip oil stain" or "hole from where my stomach leans on the counter and rubs my jean zipper" on my shirts and having to buy new shirts every couple months (the same freaking shirts!!!). How nice it will be not to fight myself from breaking out the credit card at every infomercial offering weight loss/cleanse/diet pill. How it will feel to order $10 of chinese food and have leftovers rather than $40 of chinese food and wish that I had gotten those crab rangoons too.
I don't mean to be corny, but you can't succeed if you don't try. You automatically fail. So worrying about failure, seems moot. If you are like me, lapband is not the first diet plan you have tried. It is the last ditch effort to get your weight and life under control. By having the surgery you are upping your chances of success hugely, and without it, at least for myself, there would be virtually no chance of success, and a better chance at gaining another 100lbs in the next 4 years. A huge reason I chose lapband was because of the automatic support it provides and the virtually guaranteed success (with patience). You are REQUIRED to see your doctor for fills and follow ups. They don't just cut out half your stomach and say "good luck". They work with you and your band to help you get the results you are looking for. The support and motivation that seeing your doctor until you have it under control, for me, is a huge win. It almost feels fool proof as long as I am willing to put in the time and wait until I find my sweet spot.
My advice is to keep using this forum to ask any last minute questions you have. Re read through the surgeons packet and make sure you have no questions. Start taking the steps to success by purchasing the tools you need to begin with your best foot forward. Get into the mentality that you are about to add life to your life. Make a list of the things you want to do once you hit your goals and use that as motivation to do the preop diet and walk into the surgery feeling confident you can be successful. I started looking at all the skinny girl clothing sites that I have not fit into for >6 years and started making "shopping bags" of all the clothes I would want to fit into. I made a pinterst board of the tattoos, skydiving, rollercoasters and things that I can't or don't feel comfortable doing now, that I want to add to my life. Think of scenarios that frighten you (for me it is how I will be social with my friends without food) and make alternatives (go kayaking, see a movie, have a cookout at my house where I can provide myself with proper food, work out with the boys instead of drinking beer with the boys). My therapist helped me look up overeaters anonymous groups in my area and lapband support groups from my surgeons office and plan to attend a lot in the first few months. I'm sure it won't all be easy, but removing these "variables" has eased my mind SO MUCH.
I hope this is more helpful than preachy. It was actually a huge help to me to write all this down and reaffirm why I am doing this. I wish you luck with your surgery, fellow-july-bander. And please contact me or ask more questions. I don't have all the answers and I would love as much support as I can get as I make this change. This forum has been beyond helpful for me in answering questions and realizing that I am not the only person with my concerns. I have found plenty of people with the exact same fears/concerns/flaws and sometimes they have the answers too. There isn't one way to be successful on the band, and between lapbandtalk and youtube I have found the pieces I need to feel like I can succeed.
.... Can you imagine what my pre-deleted post was if this is my "essentially" version. HAHA.

I was banded almost 5 weeks ago and was going thru the same things. I was worried and nervous, and embarrassed that I needed surgery. Tomorrow will be 5 weeks for me, and im down 56 pounds already. I feel great, I have so much more energy. There was a little pain, but not much. And it was so worth it. I'm very happy so far, and can tell you for me, it was a great choice.

I am scheduled for July 10th! The hospital just called for my pre-op blood work and told me i am tentatively scheduled for 2:00 and they have me staying over! I was hoping for first thing in the morning so i could go home! Waiting until 2:00 is going to be hard! I start my liquid on Tuesday the 26th and then on the 28th I have endoscopy! I am getting nervous - but i know i am doing the right thing!!

I am scheduled for July 10th! The hospital just called for my pre-op blood work and told me i am tentatively scheduled for 2:00 and they have me staying over! I was hoping for first thing in the morning so i could go home! Waiting until 2:00 is going to be hard! I start my liquid on Tuesday the 26th and then on the 28th I have endoscopy! I am getting nervous - but i know i am doing the right thing!!

Is that the Bariatric Advantage? I think i bought the banana and strawberry flavors I hope i like them with having to be on them for 2 weeks pre op starting next Tuesday!! And then 2 weeks post op too!!

ive had this all this afternoon... not nice. i ate a piece of pork and didnt chew it long enough... and away i went. i seem to be slow to learn about chewing but its hard when i take a roast out of the oven and start slicing into it. Ive even forgotten sometimes that i have the band, the habit of eating pieces of roast has been with me for so long. Anyway, ive been off colour this afternoon. No tea for me now. just a hot drink im afraid. i have another fill on wednesday... wouldnt you think i would learn how to chew properly?? just when ''i thought it was safe to go back in the water''...