La_madam

Bella..good luck to you:) Cant wait to hear all about it, we are all going to live vicariously through you with this TT experience.

This thread came from another board by a friend of mine and I felt it was such a great thread I wanted to start it over here So many of us focus on what we are doing wrong...how about focusing on what we are doing right For me it is : 1. Eating better healthier foods. 2. Eating smaller portions. 3. Not drinking with my meals and waiting 1 hour after a meal to drink 4. I do not drink liquid calories. 5. I call my Dr. at the first sign of something NOT right. 6. I do not take NSAID's or drink carbonation 7. I eat for 20 minutes only! 8. I take small bites and chew chew chew 9. I drink atleast 100 oz of Water a day. 10. I eat atleast 60 grams of Protein a day and eat my Proteins first, then veggies & fruits. Also instead of focusing on the scale and what the numbers are, how about focusing on all of the great things that have changed for the better in your life since being banded. 1. More energy 2. Doing more things with my children & husband. 3. Smaller size clothing. 4. More social with my friends, customers & co-workers 5. Need less sleep 6. Feeling better about myself then I have in years. 7. No more lower back pain or knee pain. 8. Healthier looking skin, nails & hair. 9. Take time for me ( pedicures/ Manicures/ Hair) 10. Not shopping in the plus size department NO longer!

Here Here Carol! Very Well said!! Sorry ot hear of your unfiill, but if Ican be unfilled for 2 months and lose 5 lbs you can do it too I'm so glad you were responisble and called your Dr. right away. You acted very responsible, . What a great example you have shown for all of those who are on the fence about calling their Dr. in time of distress

1. Is It Easy To Just Go Back To Overeating/not Exercising And Not Lose Anything With The Band? Or Do You Actually Feel A Difference With The Band...more Restriction? The band is not a Magic Wand, there are ways to eat around the band, if you eat the right foods you can not over eat if you have proper restriction, if you eat the wrong foods you can definately over eat. There are certain foods the band does not restrict no matter how tight you are ( junk food, ice cream, chocolate) 2. I Have Heard With The Bypass, People Can Have Alot Of Excess Skin Due To How Quickly You Loose The Weight...has Anyone Experienced This With The Lap Band? it all depends on your age, how long you have been morbidly obese, genetics, exercise etc...my saggy arms are my only concern at this point.

We are all so different with our fills and how much your individual Dr. will fill you but if it were me, I would wait until I got home from vacation to ever get a fill. I would hate to be too tight and miserable on vacation and not be near a band Dr. in the event I was to tight and needed help. Besides vacations are meant to enjoy yourself a bit. Go and have fun and worry about the fill when you get back, it will still be there

Today I was an Angel for a new bandster. She is a customer of mine and has watched my transformation over the last 14 months and has picked my brain and researched the Lap band for over a year now.. Today was her day to have the Lap Band with Dr. Quebbaman & Dellal out of South Coast Medical here in Laguna Beach. I wanted to be there for her and show her my support, I know from the tears in her eyes when she saw me that she really appreciated me being there for her.I brought her a gift basket from Bath & Body Works to pamper herslef once she is up to it.. It felt so good to be able to help a new bandster today

I have never had any of my saline disappear or evaportate

This morning I am a little frustrated to read some of the posts by members here in recent days. SO I wanted to start this thread to see if Iam the only one who feels the way I do? My questions is , at what cost will you got to to lose wieght with your band? If you know your band is too tight, how long will you wait until you call your Dr.? If you know something is wrong, how long will you wait until you call your Dr. If you can not eat nothing but liquids for months, dont you think something is not right and you should call your Dr.? If you have GERD and Reflux so bad you are choking at night & living on liquids dont you think it is time to call your Dr.? This is so maddening to me to see members here be so foolish about their health, regardless of their wieght loss, is losing wieght in such an unhealthy manner worth risking their bands but more important their lives? I almost lost my life, due to bowel obstruction recently, I knew something wasnt right and I was in the ER the next day and having surgery the next day, if I had not reacted so quickly I would not be here right now posting this thread. I was even willing to give up my band if it meant saving my life. Come on people be responsible , do not be foolish!!! Value your life a little more then this please. Weight loss is not more important then living is it? We are not all medical professionals but Iam sure most of know that living on liquids and Pbing everyday , living with severe reflux at night is not how the band was designed to work, common sesne tell us that much.Some are so obsessed with the weight loss they are seeing living like this that they are not seeing clearly the danger they are doing to their bodies and bands. I know for me I did not get the band to be miserable and not eat but only liquids and have reflux every night regardless of how much weight I lose...my life is so much more important and my kids & husband are more important for me to be around to love them then risking it all for a few more lbs lost then the next person who is not experiencing these problems. So Im not losing 1-3 lbs a week but I am enjoying food and feeling good with no problems. Sorry to ramble because I usually dont let this get to me but it seems to be more evident here on LBT lately more then ever people being foolish and not acting responsible. I'm frustrated to see the lack of responsibiltiy in some people. I'm sure Iam going to get blasted by some with PM hell for this but Oh Well

Kansascitygal Is losing 110 lbs in 14 months worth your life? The band was not designed to work like this. If your band is this tight without a fill, you NEED to call your Dr. immediately.

Becuase you are normal

Trish, for me it depends on what I ate. I notice if I eat hard proteins it could be hours before Iam hungry again, if it is a softer protein, it could be alot quicker, alot of it is mental. I usually wait until my stomach is growling. Even if I think Iam hungry doesnt mean I really truly am hungry.

Hi Diane & Welcome to LBT Glad you are here, this is a very informative site. I'm sure all of your questions will be answered here Not to worry about that with the band, thats the great thing about the band, you can lose weight and still enjoy food! ( you just wont be eating as much

Iam a very happy Ortiz patient, I do not regret my decision to use him as my surgeon one single bit, he and his staff have been there for me every step of the way and then some.However I have heard great things about Dr. Kuri also. Best of luck to you with whomever you decide to go with. They are both experienced band surgeons. I was not confused about going with Dr. Ortiz, he came highly reccomended by the Lap Band surgeon here in my area, he actually trained him, and since I was a self pay and could not afford the cost here in CA, I was referred to Ortiz.

Monday June 27th Starting weight 172 Waist 34 inches Bust 40 inches Hips 41 Clothing size 10

There seems to be many different opinions on this. For me I was told by both my PCP and my band surgeon, my hair loss is from not enough Protein, since I have reaaly been eating more protein, my hair loss has stopped. This is just my story.

Christine, I had a recent unfill due to gastritis.My gastritis was cused from complete bowel obstruction.I almost died from it but with the fast acting I did in contacting my Dr.he was able to preform emergency surgery and save my life I had NO symptoms of gastritis but it was detected through enoscopy so I was completely unfilled for 2 months. You need to call your Dr. do not be foolish. You need to do the responsible thing here and call your doctor, you are risking damage to your band but more important you are risking your health and possibly your life This is serious. Please Please call your doctor. I am begging you to get help. Nobody here is going to bash your Dr., we all just want you to get help with this serious problem. PLEASE P.S. There is a possiblity that it is not GERD but Gastritis, they are very similar but very different. this is why you need to be seen to make usre you are treatingthe right condition with the right meds

I'm sorry for your loss, I went through this same thing having to put our family dog of 9 years down in Feb. It is tough but each day gets a little easier, Hang in there

I have replaced food with coming here to LBT I have replaced food with lots of Water I have replaced food with more reading I have replaced food with cleaning out cupboards, drawers & closets I have replaced food with going out and doing more things with my kids & husband

Juat when I think I have no restriction, the band remids me I do, I just ate three bites of a salad and had the slime but no PB, waitied for about 3 minutes for it to pass, took a couple more bites and put it away Most of the time in the morning s I know myband is here but in the evenings I feel like it is not there but tonight was different..the band is fickle

You do not need to be validated by anyone else, Iam sure you did not do this for anyone but you. Focus on you and how GREAT you are doing. You have done amazingly well so far. Do not let the little things like people not noticing your weight loss get in your way of success or sabatoge you in any way! Trust me the day will come when people will notice, but until then, be happy about your success so far WAY TO GO!!

From liquids to solids willl cause weight gain until your body adjusts, another reason is 900 calories is not enough, try keeping it between 1200-1800 and see if that helps, body goes into starvation mode with that little ammount of calories. hang inm there is will happen, you have not had a fill yet, once the fills get rollin' you will see a difference in the numbers on thescale, but alos try not to focus so much on what the scale says, look for the other possitive things goin on that have changed since your band, like more energy, feeling better, clothees getting bigger, etc..

I have had mine for almost 15 months

I was told by mr Dr. just this past week that chewing gum for us bandsters will create more gas ( because of the air we swallowwhen we chew)since the band now acts as a one way valve and I have tested it, it does for me, I used to chew gum like crazy and was gassy like crazy, but since I have stopped chewiong gum, the gas is minimal.

Hope all went well today..Congratulations to you

You are not alone, my surgeon is a hottie too! My husband told me " If I didnt know better, I'd think the two of you were having an affair" this was after Dr. Ortiz doted on me for 3 days during my bowel obstruction surgery, holding my hand telling me he loved me and everything was going to be all right and kissing my forehead, checking on me every few hours.. Don't get that kind of love & care from U.S. docs. Luckily my husband is not a jealous man and loves Dr. Ortiz as much as I do for saving my life.