Terri_121

Girls-and guys, lol, QUIT SAYING "ONLY" and start saying YEPPIE I'VE LOST ____!!!! Your on your way and you will get there!!! Your 6 and 5 and ect ect down from what you were. Y'all will get there. BELIEVE IN YOURSELVES! I do

Stepped on the scale this morning and about fell off!! On Cloud Nine :D

Glad your doing so well! I know from my weight loss I have gotten off all meds and really dodged some bad weight related illness. Thus I have decided to get the band to help me reach my goal. Keep up the good work and stay well! Have a blessed and happy life!

I was banded January 21,2013. I weighed 346 pounds. Have stage 3 COPD. I was on 2 liters oxygen 24 hrs a day and considered permanently disabled. Smoking a half pack of cigarettes a day. I could not walk, talk, and breathe at the same time. I was taking blood pressure meds and cholesterol meds. I think I was well on my way to an early grave just like my momma. She died at 59 years old. I still don't recall what they sighted as cause of death on her death certificate but it was all related to her being morbidly obese.
Fast forward to today six months later. I am at 266 pounds, well maybe a few pounds less as I have promised myself to stay off scale for at least a week. Any who, I am feeling better then I have in 15- 20 years. I do Water exercise twice a day for 60 minutes. Last night I started walking two miles a night with my niece. During which we visit almost the entire route. Preparing for a 2 mile fun run to be held at the Farmers day event in my little town the end of September.
I am off the cholesterol meds and truly believe the others will be next. I quit smoking in Feb. (although I have recently had a dumbass attack and smoked a few but that is done). I still eat anything I want just slower and less. I have only had one food that has given me problems and that is flat bread. I have chosen not to eat bread, potatoes, rice and Pasta. I have actually enjoyed finding new better foods to replace them. Like using zucchini noodles in goulash or a cucumber to hold my tuna salad instead of bread. Would probably be back to work now except I will lose my medical coverage. I am ready to go back to work the end of the year medical coverage or not. I love love love my lap band.

You have all of us!!! Reach out…it really helps me on days when I feel the same way. I am only a couple of months out from surgery but I have been using that myfitnesspal app and it helps me to track my calories Protein etc. I must admit I don't do it all the time like I should. The weekends are the worst for me, I'm great during the week very disciplined but the weekends send me for a loop.
My husband and I did the surgery together, and even though we are together in the struggle it's different for me then for him. He is losing weight faster than I am, and he's not going to the gym like I am every day.
He needs a full hip replacement and mobility for him is tough, so we have issues where I want to be fit and he can' t be doing what I am doing and yet I am still not losing the weight as much as he is, don't be discouraged look up that my fitness pal website and get the jump on your husband!

well...i am back...i was so disappointed when i wanted to have lapband a couple years ago and could not get the money gathered up. Well good news...(for me at least) my employer has just informed me that in November they will cover lapband proceedure!!!! I am super excited! that gives me the most part of a year to get my deductibles saved up and get things ready - because i will be in line on November 1st!!!!! think good thoughts for me folks - I really want this to happen!

I was banded today!!!! I can't believe it!!!

Tomorrow will be here before I know it … my nerves are starting to tingle and I'm getting a nervous knot in my tummy.
I lost 20 pounds w/ pre-op dieting and feel this helped to ready my mind and body for what is to come. Still, I'm feeling on edge and trying to hide it from my family so they don't worry.
Once I wake up and hear the 'everything went great' bit, I will feel better … until then, I am a ball of nerves.
I am excited for this and I believe whole heartedly that this is the best gift I can give myself … the gift of knowing I will be healthy, not obese … the gift of looking in the mirror and feeling proud of the girl smiling back at me, rather then disappointed ….
Reading everyone's post-op stories have been very helpful! I look forward to having my own …

Yay! Congrats! Feel better soon.

I went to my first seminar a few weeks ago. I had done alot of research on gastric banding and pretty much had my mind made up before i went.
Before I went to the seminar I called my insurance provider and was told the surgery would be covered by at least 80% and possibly 100 depending on what my doctors say.
I will be meeting with the dietician and financial / patient advocate on October 15,2012.
I am looking forward to following everyone elses success as I await my own.

I weighed around 252 lbs, I had been over weight for years and had been on every diet or program that is known. I am also a life time member of WW. #:-). I made my decision after multiple health problems, hypertension, joint pain and asthma. I did a low carb diet 2 weeks before surgery. I weighed 238 on surgery day. I am two years post op and weigh 130 lbs now.
Good luck with youdecisionon, I do strongly advocate with for good physiological follow up before surgery and after. My personal opinion is that the emotional side of this journey is difficult to say the least and for long term success we need to get our heads on straight and be able to learn new coping skills and not continue to use food aa a crutch.
Behavior modification is key to our success!
Again, good luck and know we are her to support you in your journey!
I know probaly more info than your requested, I am sometimes wordy, hope it helps.

I am on Medicare, and I know they will pay for a panniculectomy after 100 pounds or more weight loss. My breasts are very large still despite the weight loss, and they will cover a breast reduction with lift. They won't cover the cost of a lift alone, though. Only when done with a reduction.
I am hoping to have both surgeries next summer.

Wow - that's alot of surgery for outpatient. I hope you have someone attending to you for a few days at home. It's going to be hard for you to do much of anything with both your abdomen and your arms healing.
My doctor told me to take some extra Vitamin C about two weeks before surgery until I was done healing. I healed very well.
Pick up some sweat pants or pajamas with pockets. You'll probably have drains that have bulbs on the ends. It's easier to get around with the drains if you have pockets to put the bulbs into.
Stay on top of the pain. By that, I mean take the pain medication before the pain becomes unbearable and keep on a schedule. Write down when you take your pain medication because it's easy to be so groggy that you can't remember when you took it last.
Best wishes to you. Lots of rest and good nutrition is important to help you heal. Keep us posted.
Sue

My surgery is January 11, I am starting to get anxious! I am on my pre-op diet and it has been hard but I am keeping my eye on the prize! I know this will not be an easy journey but it is the right journey!

Yes very normal. You are healing, the stomach is upset because of a foreign object around it, and your body is trying to store calories for a rainy day. It could stay dormant for 10-15 more days. When you can walk, do your walking as much as you can. SIP your Water not guzzle it. As you get fills and restriction, you will SIp the liquids. Start practicing now.
Best wishes

This was such a great article. It so well articulates how I've felt about this journey and have not been able to put into words. It's also a great encouragement. I will be banded very soon and reading articles like this help me feel even more convinced that using the lap band as a tool to assist me in my weight loss is a great choice. Of course the key words being tool and assist.
Thank you!

Great article Jean. I have had some ups and downs since getting my band but in the end I was just being hard on myself because of my past history. Dropping a lot of weight by means of a fad diet is doable but being sustainable is a whole different story. As soon as you stop dieting the weight comes back on. Because.....You need to learn new habits and you don't do that with fad diets.
Band is not easy but it can be a powerful tool if you learn to master it!!
"You will never change your life until you change something you do daily." -John Maxwell

So true Jean. I no longer tell people that I lost all my weight with a lap band. It is almost a dis-service to encourage more people to think that banding is a the magic bullet! This is real work people. I am almost one year since surgery and only 2 fills!

Excellent article Jean, I have had great success with lap band. I have only had 3 fills in 2 years. My band has helped me have the to gain control and confidence in myself and my choices. To be honest what the band has really taught me is to chew my food and enjoy my meals and pay attention to what I am eating. I do hope other read this and realize that true success and failure with WLS has one common denominator. Me, myself and I. thanks for the reality check!

Do you expect weight loss surgery to pull 100 pounds out of a magician’s hat? Our expectations of surgery can have a greater influence on our success or failure than you might think.


Recently an acquaintance told me about seeing an obese man on TV who claimed that bariatric surgery hadn’t worked for him. “How can it NOT work?!” Patsy exclaimed.
There’s no simple answer to that question. In the past I’ve written about why weight loss surgery fails (read the article here: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/page/index.html/_/support/why-does-weight-loss-surgery-fail-r88).
Today I’d like to revisit the topic and focus on how our expectations affect the perception of as well as the ultimate success or failure of WLS.
BARIATRIC MYTHOLOGY
Some powerful myths influence our beliefs about and expectations of WLS. An especially insidious one that affects both bariatric patients and the general public is that WLS is essentially magic, requiring little or no effort on the patient’s part to achieve the desired weight loss. Hence the infamous and heinous phrase: “Weight loss surgery is taking the easy way out.”
This magic myth has a corollary one that purports that the weight lost as a result of bariatric surgery is weight lost forever, again without any effort on the part of the patient. Sorry, but that’s not true either.
While the whole point of bariatric surgery is to make weight loss easier, it does not eliminate the need for hard work by the patient. No bariatric surgery can cure obesity, which is a chronic, recurring disease. That doesn’t mean that succeeding with WLS means you’re sentenced to a lifetime of hard labor, dragging heavy chains and digging ditches, but it does mean that in the long term a successful patient is one who takes responsibility for his or her eating behavior, weight management, and general health.
Reading the paragraph above may serve to shatter some illusions that you held dear, but when would you rather face the truth: early in your journey, or later? Although I was once a bandster like you, I lost my beloved band and recently converted to vertical sleeve gastrectomy. I have to tell you that despite all my advance research and preparation, the reality of living with a sleeved stomach is giving me a bad case of buyer’s remorse, but there’s no going back now. Seventy-five percent of my stomach is gone forever, but living with what’s left and finding a way to eat and to manage my weight now is an ongoing challenge. And I’ve heard countless stories from all kinds of bariatric patients about the challenges they face after surgery. Anyone who promises you a completely sunny picture of the future is either mistaken or trying to avoid bursting your bubble.
BAND MYTHS
There are a number of myths related to the adjustable gastric band. One of them is that slower weight loss with the band will prevent sagging or excess skin, and that just ain’t so. A more dangerous myth, peculiar to bandsters, is that fills cause weight loss and unfills cause weight gain. While Fluid adjustments are an important part of how the AGB works,the fluid is NOT what causes weight loss. In fact, there is absolutely nothing in any part of the band system (the band, the tubing, and the port) that causes weight loss. The band does not directly affect the way nutrients from food are ingested or metabolized. It releases no weight loss instructions into the patient’s bloodstream, nervous system, or endocrine system. It doesn’t directly affect the patient’s eating behavior or exercise habits. It doesn’t compel the patient to make good food choices, limit portion sizes, eat slowly, or resist the urge to graze or binge because of boredom, stress, cravings, etc.
Weight loss results from eating fewer calories than you burn, and the band helps with that by reducing your appetite and causing early and prolonged satiety. Those features are related to the pressure of the band against the stomach and the consumption of solid food whose mechanical digestion triggers the vagus nerves in the upper stomach to send satiety signals to the brain. If the patient ignores those signals, the calories taken in may exceed the calories burned, slowing or preventing weight loss. And since weight is affected by many other factors entirely unrelated to the band (like medications, hormone imbalance, etc. etc.), all we can do is to concentrate on the ones that are within our control and understand that it’s a fallacy to attribute weight loss to the band or to fills.
One harmful consequence of the fills=weight loss myth is that the patient seeks more and more fills in the Quest for “perfect restriction” (also a myth) or the legendary (but also mythical) “sweet spot.” This patient tends to tolerate side effects and eating problems that can cause serious damage to them and their band because they’re so focused on finding that perfect but elusive fill level and believes (erroneously) that the more fluid in their band, the better. When you suggest to this person that they may actually need less, not more fluid in their band (so that they can eat healthy, solid food instead of not-so-healthy slider foods), they react with panic, so aren’t able to make a good decision and may not even be willing to tell their surgeon about the eating problems they experience.
Please don’t read this article thinking that my purpose is to discourage you. I’m the eternal optimist who believes in self-fulfilling prophecies. If you’re determined to lose weight and work hard at it, you can indeed use your band to reach your weight goal. The key phrase in that sentence is “work hard at”. There’s just no getting around that, so if your expectation is that you’ll lose weight effortlessly, you’re probably going to be disappointed in your band, yourself, or both. Your band can assist your weight loss efforts by providing early and prolonged satiety, but it’s not going to make good food choices, control portion sizes, make you exercise, be vigilant with aftercare, win you cash and prizes, or turn you into America’s next top model.
On the other hand, believing that you will succeed and working hard to learn and change what you need to in order to lose weight will greatly increase your chances of becoming a bariatric superstar. And when stardom comes from hard work, it is much, much sweeter and longer lasting than stardom that falls at random out of the sky!

Thanks Missy! Someone was looking for this info the other night. Going to find her and hook her up. : )

It is funny how you mention that! I do the VERY same thing!!!! I just cooked some lovely yellow squash, onions, and chicken...total calories for the entire thing was only 296...BUT~~~I couldn't even eat half of it! It is not because I feel like some say--restriction or coming up in my throat, it is because I just feel full! My plates were always twice as big as everyone else's...and now I barely eat half of what I put on the plate! I see my small amount that I have eaten from my "small" sized portions...and think.."Gosh, have I even eaten?"
I really love the lapband...and I am still eating healthy...and the lapband has nothing to do with that...I don't eat doughnuts and pastries...even if I want to...it is only a taste. So, I feel in control...the lapband is just making it easier! Love it!

I was banded 2 months ago and am feeling great, just wanted to update everyone. I've had two "episodes" where I ate too quickly and/or too much and I threw up. Not pretty, but seriously, it was a major lesson learned. It's all about re-learning how to eat and I was just stupid... I knew I was being stupid, but did it anyway... and I paid the price. When I eat slowly, when I'm aware of what and how much I'm eating, I've been fine! I think you need to have 1 or 2 of these "episodes" to learn a lesson the "hard way"
I had my first fill yesterday. Was easy to do, no problem!
The weight is coming off slowly now, just like they said... about 1-2lbs per week. I'm already down 30-something pounds since my heaviest and feeling better than I've felt in 15+ years!!!
I love my band, but am still learning how to make it work for me. The weight loss and good feelings are so motivating to keep it all up and to keep complying with all the do's and don'ts.
Be well, everyone!
Jason

Thank you everyone for your support!!