NJDad

I find even in weeks where I don't see a big loss of weight, I still see progress. I measure that progress in belt notches. Before the surgery, I would wear out that one notch in my belt long before the rest of the belt wore out..... Now, I seem to be pulling the belt smaller and smaller every week. I am on my third belt since April. Each one smaller than the previous one.

My wife would have to agree that things do change down there for the better. Now ladies, I have seen your discussions on bras and boobs over in the powder room, so I'll ask a few questions for the guys..... Do you find that you worry more about how you "dress" since you lost the weight. And ladies, I am not asking about what shirt we wear. Since I lost the weight, I am much more aware of where I put that thing inside my clothes. If you are curious what I am talking about, look up the terms "dressing right" or "dressing left" And for the guys that are just investigating this surgery.....do us all a favor and measure BEFORE you have the surgery, then come back in a year and tell us the difference. We need empirical data beyond, "My wife needs two hands now" :-)

I just realized it was five months today that i had surgery. Two days before my surgery on 4/24/13 I weighed in at 340. I considered that pretty good, since I had weighed in at 359 right around the baseball playoffs last October. I weighed myself this morning and saw I was down to 270. I haven't been this low for decades. Like many here, when I look in the mirror, I don't see the difference. So while sitting here at tonight's Yankee game, I went through some old pictures on my iPad and found this picture from last fall. I then took another pic here tonight. Ok, now I see the difference everyone else seems to be seeing.... Ron

I am traveling regularly. I was banded back in April. I'm on the road about once every two weeks. I was in Cincinnati last week, and St. Louis this week. I get around a bunch. Next week is Vermont. I have learned the menus at most chains.......I eat lots of chicken breast. If a restaurant offers any type of chicken, they can serve you plain chicken. All you need to do is ask nicely. I am getting to the point where I rise with the sun and have a distinct urge to start cockadoodledoing in the morning. Ya think that is too much chicken? I also bring along my individual packets of

I used Dr. Strom out of Mountainside Hospital in Glen Ridge, NJ. He and his team are great and have done really well by me. It's also a Center of Excellence. Mountainside is part of the Hackensack Hospital system.

I know I'm a guy....but here is one piece of advice...... No matter when you do start, make sure you wait at least an hour or so after eating. Trust me. My wife and I had to stop one evening, I just couldn't continue (When was the last time a guy had to say, "Stop, we are having sex too soon!")

Get yourself a dog......they love to be walked. Seriously, walk. Rest a little. Walk some more, rest a bit more. Walk again. I found that the walking really helped. And as a side benefit....the dog was really happy to get all those walks.

I have always had a personal motto, "Keeping track of your truths is easier than keeping track of your lies." I know I am the type of person that likes to talk to people. Any person is a potential conversation-mate. If I had to keep track of who I told what, I'd spill the Beans in a few days anyway. That being said, I have had it easy. I think guys have it easier. Men are simple, you tell them, they ask their questions, and on to the next subject. The guys in my office are making comments on how my clothes are getting to big. Busting my chops that I am saving money on food, but it will cost me in new clothes. If that is the worse teasing I get, I'll survive. But here's the funny thing. I will tell anyone I can talk to,face to face. Or even one on one over the phone. But I haven't posted anything on Facebook about this. My thought is that I can explain my situation to someone, and answer their questions as we discuss it. I hopefully won't have too many people sniping behind my back, " Did you see Ron had that LapBand thingie? What was he thinking?" Well, I can answer them exactly what I was thinking....... Ron

I had my surgery on 4/24/13. The first time I really felt a change in my body not related to a scale was about a month after the surgery and my wife and I had a wedding to go to the first weekend in June....what to wear, what to wear? I tried on an old suit that I had in the back of my closet that I had not worn in years.....and it fit. Like you, I was a male in 3XL shirts. And some of those shirts were snug. It is only 3.5 months since my surgery, I am down nearly 60 pounds since the week before my surgery. My waist is 4 inches smaller, I am down to 2XL shirts, and some of those are feeling a bit baggy now. My size 12 feet are now down to a size 11.5 or 11. So, it doesn't take long to start to see some payback on your investment of time and effort. I sat on the sidelines for nearly a decade about WLS. I thought about it a bit three years ago, but not seriously. I went to a WLS seminar back in October of last year, and followed up with an office visit a few days later. I saw a nutritionist for nearly 8 months before I had the surgery....it was worth the delay because I felt I was ready after all those meetings. But really, the first time I felt things were turning around was the day I weighed myself in the hospital, a few hours after surgery. I had been on a liquid diet the week before surgery. As I was doing my laps around the ward, I spied a scale. I stepped on it and it was one of the sweetest sights I had ever seen coming from a scale. This was Wednesday night. I had weighed myself at the doctor's office on Monday and I weighed in at 340. That day I was down to 330. That is when I knew I could do this....that is when I really first felt the turnaround. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask..... Ron

I know it is not exactly a before and after pic......but this picture symbolizes all the surprises I have been coming across while losing the weight. That watch used to be nice and snug on my wrist.

I felt the same way when I went from a 3xx number to a 2xx number. It is a bit overwhelming. Congrats on the great progress. As for being a 42 year old man, rather than a 14 year old girl..........don't worry about that at all. You are making good progress, and you have every right to feel proud of your accomplishments. Every few weeks as I see a lower tens digit in my weight 289, 279, etc........I take a picture of the scale and send it to a good friend of mine. We revel in my glory for a few seconds, then on with the day. I'm 46, not 16. And I don't care how old I am.....I share it.

Seeing him on the news here in Jersey often, I see that he is losing weight. His weight loss does seem to be slow, but it is there. I had done some searching online about this topic to compare his results to mine, and can find no firm numbers on his progress.

I travel often for my job, and now I am starting to visit clients that I met before, but haven't seen me since the surgery. I visited one of those last week. When I entered the guy's office, he looked at me kind of surprised, then his face turned a little sad. He looked me in the eye and quietly said, "Death or divorce?" Confused, I asked him what was he talking about. He said the only time any male friends of his lost this much weight, it was because they were "trolling for new fish". Therefore, his assumption is was I was baiting the hook with some new meat. I hadn't laughed so hard in a while......

I know it isn't what you intended when you wrote this, but thanks for the warning to the rest of us. My nutritionist said that hot dogs were off the table once I had the surgery, exactly for reasons like this. Well, I go to a lot of pro football and baseball games. Having a hot dog and a soda were a big part of the "ballpark experience". I had been thinking to myself, "What if I chew one real well and really slow, maybe that'll make it ok" After reading your experience, I think I'll stick to other foods at the game. Thanks for the reminder. Ron

Yes, it does make me feel good.

Perhaps it isn't that they are getting any bigger, but the rest of you is getting smaller? Then they look bigger on your body? Hey, it happens to some guys in a different part of the body....

In college, I was a size 11 shoe. As I grew older, I figured that shoes were getting like "pounds" of coffee.....same price, less material in the package. Over the next 20 years I went to an 11.5 and on to a 12. Well, 3 months out and those size 12 shoes are falling off me. I guess it was me

ROTFLMAO Thanks for the laugh!

First, see what your doctor says, he is the ultimate decision maker here. I have not visited an amusement park since my surgery, but I do have some experience with moving aroud since my banding in April. I design and program heavy machinery for the tape industry. Occasionally, I have to climb into, over or under some equipment to make an adjustment. Since my surgery, I find I can fit in smaller places....however, like Achilles, I now have a weak spot. If I push or press too hard on my port site, it hurts. I find if I lean over certain things and press into my port, it still is tender. I don't know where your port is, but think about some of the faster rides you might want to go on. If the safety rails or harnesses press on your port or incision sites, it might make for an uncomfortable ride. My advice would be to stick with the Teacups, Pirates of the Caribbean and It's a Small World. Avoid the Rock 'N Roller Coaster and Expedition Everest this trip.

I am so happy that I am not the only one with confusion over the "Goal weight". When I first saw my doctor, I was over 350. The weird thing is not many people realized how big I had become (It must be that new stealth technolgy). I am 6'4" tall, and built like a linebacker.....which was a good thing, since that was what I was in college. My doctor looked at a chart, and said that with my height, I should be shooting for 183 pounds. 183? You have to be kidding me. My boss, who is an avid cycler. I don't mean he rides a bike here and there. He rides 80 mile races. He went for a cardiac stress test for insurance purposes and no matter how high they put the treadmill, he couldn't reach the target heartrate they were looking for. He is all muscle. He is 2 inches shorter tan I, and he weighs in at 185. My goal, as it has been since last year is to get to 234. "Why is he coming up with such an exact number?" you might ask..... Well, that was the weight that I played football at in college. If I can get back to the weight I was when I was in the best shape of my life, I will be very happy. One more thing.....I am with CarolinaGirl. I use my clothes more as a guide than the scale. For me, I see a difference in my belt quicker than I do in the scale.

Thanks for the comments folks. Now I have to add a fifth item to my list...... 5. A blind man told me that he can tell I am losing weight. (C'mon, when a blind man says he can tell you are making progress, you pay attention. ) I know this needs a litte explanation.......A good friend of mine is a sportswriter, and he covers the New York Yankees. He has been covering the local NY sports scene for nearly 50 years. Oh, one more thing, he has been blind since he was 12 years old. A few times a month, I serve as his guide at Yankee games. My daughter tells me I am the world's biggest seeing eye dog. As I guide him in the various places a sportswriter goes, he holds on to my right arm. He knew I had the surgery a few months ago, but said he really didn't notice my size before......but he mentioned yesterday that my arm is definitely shrinking. Now that is progress......

I had a good week this week. 1. I noticed I am down another notch on my belt. One more notch and it is time to buy another smaller belt. That will be my third belt since April. 2. My daughter's teacher, who had not seen me since May, told me I look great. (Side note, any 46 year old man loves to hear a 20 something woman notices them, let alone says they look good). 3. A guy in my office stopped me and asked me how much weight I lost. (Second side note - Guys don't mention weight loss to other guys unless they lost a body part or something) 4. My wife gave me a hug this morning and locked her hands behind my back. She said she hasn't been able to do that since high school. Sure, it might seem like silly little things to some, but these are the small victories I am taking away from this process. I still have a ways to go before I am back to the weight I want to reach, but it takes time. I took 25 years to get this way, it doesn't go away overnight. I weigh myself every morning before Breakfast. Sure, some days it stays the same or rises a little bit. But most days it is going down, even if by 2/10ths of a pound. Each of those mornings it is a good way to put a smile on my face. It isn't the big things, it is the small things I am concentrating on right now. I saw someone that posted they are happy when they see a 1 at the beginning of their weight. I didn't understand it until I got under 300 and saw that 2 in 299. Now, I see it every morning and smile knowing I am on the right path. Have a nice weekend! Ron

I have Oxford Insurance, which seems to be the low rent division of United Healthcare. I had to follow a six month regimen of meeting a nutritionist once a month. Plus I had to get approvals from a psychologist, a pulmonologist, a cardiologist and a gastroenterologist. Dr. Strom and his team were familiar with all the requirements of dealing with my insurance, had a list of doctors that they knew took my insurance, and stepped me through everything. Once we got all the paperwork together about a month before my surgery date, they submitted everything and got approval the first time within a week.

My PCP didn't agree with me getting LapBand surgery. It wasn't just me, he is against anyone having it. My insurance company didn't require a letter from my PCP, just a "doctor", so my surgeon wrote the letter. I saw my PCP doctor a few weeks ago, and 50 pounds lighter. He said he was impressed, but would have been more impressed if I did it without surgery. However, after he said that, he said that he was happy it is working for me, and that we now had to keep me on the straight and narrow. "And no more Pepsi.....ever". Yes, he knows me quite well.