smalltown

I also used a heating pad on my shoulders it helped a lot but walking around as much as possible will b your best bet

Michelle, I would be glad to suport you through your journey. I am almost 2 years post op and have lost 115 lbs. I started near your weight at 252 and currently weight 137. I am 5 lbs from goal. I have been active on this site since surgery, I don't personally blog as much as I used to but I still read the forums and respond to topics. There is also a fairly large group of us from this site who are friends on myfitnesspal.com and are trying to help each other through this journey. Good luck to you, Diane

U might want to get some if those thermo heat pads for your shoulders that's where my gas pain was when u get home you can use a regular heat pad that seems to have been my saving grace

2 much fun I think a lot of us had a set of those rose colored glasses lol

2 much fun I think a lot of us had a set of those rose colored glasses lol

Mama sorry to be the bearer of bad news but I'm just starting to lose steadily and I'm 6 months out with 5 fills so just settle in for long ride no turning back

Well that sucks! LOL..No really, it does. I know, it's hard to come to the forums and there are so many members posting glorious poundage being lost so you think why not me? Here's a post I made on another topic and it relates to this topic as well. "Yeah, it's disappointing when you realize the first 4-6 months are a learning process. I know I was disappointed. I had planned on being super skinny by now. HA! I think back to the seminars, doctor visits, some posts here and a few support groups I went to and I think I was informed but chose to wear my rose colored glasses and assumed I wouldn't be one of those slow losers and I'd be losing 10 lbs a month. What did Elvis say? "Fools rush in, where wise men never go"?
Well, I don't feel foolish and I'm glad I did this. I think the rose colored glasses enabled me to make the big leap and had I known or thought that this was going to be so hard I may not have done it. But, I have no regrets now and I love my new life. Not looking back, only looking forward to a skinnier and healthier me. It will come for those of you who choose to stay the course and the course may not be that far away."
tmf

If You Don't Have Hater's During This Weight Loss Walk Your Doing Something Wrong!!! People Hating on you is a Clear indication that you doing something right!!!
If You Dont Quit You Will Win!!!!!

I'm right there with u but I'm 6months out and only lost 20lbs but there's no turning back for me I'm determined to figure it out good luck to u

I liked the idea of laughing cow cheese Swiss mixed with tuna another poster had but I eat them with whole wheat crackers

I agree with 2muchfun u should wait and get band after baby I'm all most 6months out and have not yet hit my sweet spot yet and am only 20lbs down so far it's not a fast process for most but wish u all the luck in whatever u decide

And so I was reading that someone else took 6 months to get to the "sweet spot". Today is my 6 months and I am still not there. I went in to the doctors today and got a fill. I was down only a little. They knew I was very discouraged. They were so good to me today. The doctor said when I get the right fill, it will all change. Then they showed me my bloodwork!!! I had the diabetes one ( AC whatever) at 7.5 when I started this journey. Today it was 6.2 !! My triglicerides were 177 and today 122. I am getting healthy even if it is not fast weight loss. I feel a little better about that.

David Letterman isn’t the only one who composes top 10 lists. Here’s my top 10 list of the things you need to know about gastric band surgery, served with a generous helping of GJTL™ - Genuine Jean Tuff Luv™.


TIME FOR SOME TOUGH LOVE?
Genuine Jean Tuff Luv™? What’s that? It’s my version of the kind of love that hurts so good, because it gets you going in the direction you want to go.
Stern but caring parents, teachers and coaches who maintain strict rules and demanding training regimens are said to practice tough love. Those rules and regimens may not be fun, but they can turn around kids, students or athletes who’ve gotten off track or are underachieving.
Tough love may seem too severe, too tough. It works best when the parent, teacher or coach believes in, proclaims, and respects the inherent value and purpose of the person they’re trying to help. Sometimes all we need is a wakeup call to shake us out of our stupor and pull us out of a rut. The drills and discipline of tough love can help (even as they hurt) when our bandwagons have gotten lost or stalled somewhere along the way to success.
A bandster once said of me, “Jean tells people the things they don’t want to hear.” I chose to take that as a compliment. Many times in my life, I’ve benefited from a slap upside the head by a concerned friend. When I do the slapping, I try to do it with just enough emphasis to get a friend’s attention long enough to deliver an important message, followed by a gentle and loving kick in the butt. So here’s my top 10 list of things you need to know about adjustable gastric band surgery. Consider yourself kicked!
THE GJTL TOP TEN LIST
1. You will not wake up in the recovery room at your goal weight. Average weight loss with the band is 1-2 pounds per week, and virtually no one loses weight at a nice steady pace of (say) 1.75 pounds per week. Some weeks you’ll lose, some weeks you’ll stall and some weeks you’ll gain, but as long as the overall trend is downward, you’re doing great!
2. Slower weight loss with the band does not prevent sagging or excess skin. How your skin reacts to massive weight loss depends mostly on your genetics and your age. As we age, our skin loses elasticity. If the possibility of sagging or excess skin worries you, start tossing your change into a plastic surgery piggy bank.
3. Weight loss surgery (of any type) does NOT cure obesity. Obesity is a chronic and incurable disease characterized by relapse and recurrence. Although bariatric surgery is currently the most effective way of treating obesity, obesity is something you’re going to have to manage for the rest of your life, with or without surgery. For most of us, a tool like the adjustable gastric band makes that a lot easier, but it’s not effortless, either.
4. Most eating problems after band surgery are due to user error, and can be prevented by using good band eating skills. Read an article about those skills by clicking here: How to Eat Like a Bandster.
5. In order to decrease your weight and increase your health, you must decrease your food intake and increase the quality of your food choices and the time you spend exercising. While you may be able to lose weight for a while by just eating much smaller portions of Chicken McNuggets, potato chips, and candy bars, eventually that approach will stop working, and at the same time it will start biting your health in the butt. And though it may be difficult for you to exercise at first, each pound you lose will make it easier, and each additional hour you spend exercising will not only burn calories but improve your physical and mental health.
6. No weight loss surgery procedure will cure eating disorders, eating demons, emotional eating, boredom eating, stress eating, celebratory eating or food addiction. Changing those behaviors is your job. If it’s too hard to tackle yourself, consider getting some counseling with a therapist experienced with eating disorder and WLS patients, and/or joining a 12-step group like Overeater’s Anonymous.
7. The band rarely works without fills. Even if you initially lose weight with one or no fills, sooner or later, you’re going to have to face the fill needle. And if you’re too needle-phobic to tolerate a fill needle, why did you choose band surgery in the first place?
8. The restriction “sweet spot” is a myth. There is no such thing as “perfect” restriction, or if there is, you can’t count on it to last more than one hour, one day or one week. This is because the band is an inert silicone object implanted in a living, breathing human body that changes constantly in reaction to the time of day, time of month, time of year, hydration, illness, medication, stress, you name it. Restriction variability is part of the gastric band package.
9. There is nothing magic in the band that makes you lose weight. Changing your eating and exercise behavior is what makes you lose weight. All the band does is make that work easier for you by reducing your physical hunger and increasing your satiety.
10. YOU are responsible for your weight loss. Not your band, not your surgeon, and not the server at McDonald’s who invariably asks you, “Want to supersize that?”

I'm almost 3 years out. My weight loss was slower compared to most on here. The first year (I didn't get restriction till my 3rd fill, almost 5 mths out) was about 70lbs.I began dating then. I had ben widowed for about 3 yrs by then and felt uncomfortable dating. I met my now husband at about an 80 lbs loss. The 2nd year, I lost another 20 lbs, making it 104 lbs in 2 yrs. This is my 3rd year and I began having complications with my band. I gained back about 11 of those pounds.
Hopefully after my 2nd slip, they'll be able to remove my Fluid and start fresh. Hoping they won't have to manually reposition it. Even though I'm now having complications, I would do it all over again. It's so nice to wear a size 8! I've never worn a single digit my entire adult life. I gave away all of my size 3x clothing, so I really can't afford to gain it back!
Good luck to you! You can do it! You're worth it! Even tho you feel like you're starving right now on the liquid diet, it will be a bleep on your lifetime radar! Oh, and I eat anything I want - including bread, rice, and Pasta. Just VERY small amounts of them. Anytime I go to Olive Garden, it's usually about 5 meals for me. I get sick of it or it goes bad in my frig before I eat the rest of it! My husband complains how much food I waste. Oh well. Better in the trash than on my body!
Oh and some advice: Be patient. can't say that enuf. For the first 5 mths and until my 3rd fill, I felt like I failed yet another diet. It was the 3rd fill that got me to restriction, where I could only take about 6 bites of a meal and be done with it. I don't think I researched it too much before, so I truly thought once I got it, I'd start losing immediately. Doesn't happen. Most people need from 2-5 fills before feeling the restriction.
Marci

Can you guys give me some food ideas that are high in Protein but low in fat please?
Sent from my MB865 using LapBandTalk

I'm 4 1/2 months out and just starting to lose have had 3 fills wish someone would have explained it a little better to me so I could have been prepared for the long wait so I would have know it was normal but good luck to you I'm in your boat we will make it

Don't worry you will feel the restriction; I didn't feel mine till after my 2nd fill. I know it was a frustrating time for me bridging that gap between the surgery and when I started feeling restricted, however I did eventually get there. My recommendation is to trust that there is a process and it will work.
One other recommendation I would make for this period is to start making small changes in what you eat (even if you are not changing the amount). That way once you do start feeling constricted you are already eating better things. This really helped me ease into the restriction phase because I was already eating what I was supposed to be eating so the change was not as drastic.
*sorry* the below is a little off topic but it was another topic I was also struggling with during this same period of post OP/pre-restriction and I think it is related.
I know everybody has probably heard the speech about how the band is a tool and is not a magic solution, sadly it is true. I believe someone needs a mindset that the band will not fix the issue on its own; it will only help you fix the issue. I was talking it over with someone and I used a hammer and nail as an analogy for the lapband and weight loss, I could not lose the weight without the lapband, just as much as I would not be able to drive a nail in a board without a tool. However the hammer cannot drive in the nail without my aim, arm swing and strength, just as the lapband cannot lose the weight for me.
This was hard for me to understand after the surgery because I just wanted the surgery to "fix" me and I wanted it now. But looking back at everything; the initial consult, the dealings with the insurance company, the scheduling, the surgery itself, the time leading up to now and then with looking ahead it is good to know that I am doing it (of course with the lapband's help), but I am the one making the choices (to bring it back to the analogy, I am the one swinging the hammer ). Believe me there are ways to cheat and I know they are there but choosing not to cheat and continue with the process is what will change my life.
So don’t get too discouraged with the non-restriction phase, just like every other phase of the whole process it will pass and there is so much to look forward to.


Sorry for the long post

I'm 4 1/2 months out and just starting to lose have had 3 fills wish someone would have explained it a little better to me so I could have been prepared for the long wait so I would have know it was normal but good luck to you I'm in your boat we will make it

I did tell people when I was banded however as long as it takes to start losing weight steadily for me it was 41/2 months I now wish I had not for the simple reason I do have to explain a little more about the whole process of filling it up really slowly and that it a process not a fix all ect....

I've been using fitness pal started pouring on the protein today to see if that will jump start me but was never very good at dieting so was hoping band would help

I'm 4months out and having a hard time losing should I give it time or is something wrong