ragdollx19

I would call them. I have BCBS Federal and mine was submitted on a Thursday, I called Tuesday and got approval! Good luck!

Looks like there have been a lot of NSV's lately! I am jealous. Not only have I not had a scale victory in two weeks, thats right not one pound, but I also havent had any NSV's. I am ready for things to get moving again this sucks! I go in today to TRY to get another fill. Their flouro machine was down last week so I hope they have it working now.

I am right there with you... I was banded may 23 and my scale once again hasnt moved in a few weeks. I have gone longer than a month without losing any before and then all of a sudden my scale will move. Who knows... as long as my clothes keep getting looser I guess I should be happy? I know how you feel though it can be discouraging. Keep plugging along it will happen. I am going for my 4th fill Wed. R u eating the right foods? Working out?

I have been banded 4 months and recently started working out with a personal trainer. Once a week we do abs for almost an entire work out. I dont have any pain while I am doing the actual excercises but the next day the pain around my port is especially irritating. Am I doing too much? Will this harm my port? Does this go away? I dont want to stop doing the excercises for my abs because I really am noticing a difference but at the same time I dont want to set myself up for a flipped port or something goofy.

I posted my normal monthly photos on the before after thread but came across a pic from July 4th that I can tell a huge difference in. And today...

This is from pre-surgery to 4 months: This is from month 3 to month 4: I can never tell a big difference from month to month Thank God for personal trainers & BEFORE pics! :car:

Maureen, You didnt have a baby named Seamus did you?

Thanks for the replys! Garrett... hopefully she will be in a good mood and the machine will be fixed. Maybe I will call next week before I go to find out if it is working yet. I have never had a fill without the flouro. Good luck getting re-filled. Its such a process to get to a good point only to have to start back over again. I cant imagine! You just never know what kind of mood she will be in when you go. I will state my case exactly as it is and if she wont give me a small fill I will have to look for other options. I cant take the torture of being so hungry all the time.

I have been starving for the last two weeks. No matter what I eat as about 30 minutes later I am hungry. I can also eat breads now with no problems. I have lost an average of 2 lbs a week since my last fill 8 weeks ago so I am afraid they wont give me a small fill. I guess I will find out next wednesday. Has anyone been told no to a fill yet? I see the Fill Nazi who is rude and has terrible bedside manners so I am really nervous about seeing her and being told no. I know if it werent for my effort and time in the gym I wouldnt be losing at all.

I say the quicker you get exercise to be a part of your life the better off you will be. I see a lot of posts on here that say "I wish I had of worked out in the beginning when weight was coming off quickly." Is there a mom and pop gym in your area? They are typically cheaper than the big fancy ones? I go to one that costs me $20 a month but has all the work out equipment one could need. Quit making excuses and get up and on your treadmill. Use things that motivate you. For some its getting a manicure if they do so much exercise or lose so many lbs. For some reminding themselves of all the reasons they got this surgery in the first place is enough. For ME working out I know I am losing weight the healthy way, I am not losing muscle mass. I am gaining muscle and losing fat. Simply put my motivation to work out is I dont just want to be thin, I want to be HOT!

Melissa- I am so sorry! My daughter has dealt with ear problems her whole life too, I know how painful that is! I hope you feel better soon. Hair loss- I have had quite a bit lately too. I think its hormones doing it as this has happened with each of my 4 kids also. It didnt matter if I had a C Section or natural. I am blessed with lots of very thick hair so unless this continues for several more months I dont think anyone will notice. I do need to find some good vitamins though! My scale has been moving in the right direction for the past 3 weeks to the tune of about 3 lbs a week, I attribute this to the personal trainer kicking my tail and good food choices. I have noticed in the past week I have the ability to eat more with no problems including bread. I dont think they will give me another fill because of my weight loss but I do not like being able to eat a whole sandwich! If this continues for a couple more weeks I may have to load my pockets with rocks and see if i can get them to give me a very small fill. Anyone else having this problem?

I met my husband on AOL about 10 years ago. He didnt live far away or anything but still at the time it was odd for people I guess. The funny thing is he was sending me messages just to entertain his friends and being mean. So the next day when he started messaging me I was like whats your problem you are a jerk? Now I am married to him :waytogo: Hes not a jerk either.

Squeaky wheel gets the grease! I would call and tell them I was approved and would like to schedule my pre-op testing and surgery date. I didnt have all the time problems you are having and that is still what I did. Could be why it took me one month from my initial call to my surgery date too. Dont let this persons ability to contact you delay your surgery. If you want it go get it!

WOO HOO!! That rocks! My trainer actually had me jogging around the outside of the building the other day. I was amazed that I really could do it! Have you tried it again since then??

While I love my spouse and value his opinion by the time I made up my mind to get the lap band anything he could have said before or after would not have mattered to me. I have a long list of reasons I had it done but at the top of this list was FOR ME!! I know he totally supports me but even if he werent to like the new me that is too bad. I know this sounds really harsh but i am the one miserable in my fat suit he has no idea how it feels to be stuck in one. Luckily with each lb I lose he gets sweeter, the other day the compliment was "youre starting to look like you did when I met you" which is a fabulous compliment in my book because I was HOT! Do what is best for you, if your boyfriend loves you he will love the new you even more. What guy doesnt really love a hot chic anyway?

Metal - I hear that about the pants! I got some stretchy material jeans that are starting to get loose and I was just thinking how terrible I really must have looked filling those out. Yuck! Manatee - That is so cool! We want some before and during pics!!

My doc told me "eat when you are hungry, and eat until you are full and stop." I eat until I feel satisfied and then quit, I never go for the stuffed feeling. I sometimes have an afternoon snack but it is generally a snack bar with 100 calories and some protien. Or I will eat a piece of lunchmeat for a snack. My personal trainer would like me to eat 4 or 5 small meals a day but thats too much food for me so I dont even try it. I eat any carbs I will have early in the day and try to stick to just protiens at dinner. I wasnt given any amount of food to eat, just enough to fill me up whatever that is. I have not measured anything and it has been working fine for me.

Well maybe my funk is hormonal? TOM was two weeks late last month. Now it is back only two weeks after that one. I understand that weight loss can affect these things but I have always been normal, I would rather not have one at all than it be so screwy! Oh well, even with TOM here again my scale went down another lb. Suddenly my Oct 1st goal isnt looking like such a hard goal to get to. Yeah for me! If anyone grows out of some size 16s they dont want please hollar at me. I can fit into some of them now but just dont have or want to spend the money to buy new clothes until I am at least down to 199. These 20's and 18's are looking like I should have gold teeth and walk with limp.

I see a lot of the bad stories about cosmetic surgery gone bad in Mexico and how messed up some of the people are when they come home. The stories are often heart breaking to watch. This scares me a lot! I realize you are more likely to see a bad story than a happy feel good one but still its a reasonable fear I suppose. The more weight I lose the more I wonder how I am going to come up with the cash for a tummy tuck and boob job, because I know I want these! Anyone know about having plastic surgery in Mexico? Are there any sites you can get reliable information about surgery complication statistics compared to US complications?

I haven't posted in a while either, been lurking I guess. I have kind of been in a funk lately that I cant quite explain. I have continued to eat right and work out. Although, I did skip my work out yesterday which makes me feel worse today. People are telling me how great I am looking, my clothes are very loose, physically I feel better but for some reason I feel just as fat as ever and that makes me sad? I have had plenty of NSV's including being able to get out of some chairs we have in the garage without grabbing the arms and pushing myself up! It is so ridiculous to feel this way! I bought a pair of size 18 non stretchy pants at Target last week that I was shocked actually went up and buttoned no problem. They have buttons on the front and back that you can use to tighten the waist which I plan on doing when I get down to that. The thighs are too tight on them for me to look normal in them for now. All the clothes I have are either too small or way too big and its messing with my head! How long are you guys waiting to buy some new clothes? I am trying to wait till 200 to buy some new work clothes. My weekend clothes are all stretchy work out stuff so they are all fine. Hoping to get out of this stage real soon because I hate feeling like this when I should be on top of the world. I just dont think its going to happen though, I set a mini goal of 215 by 10-1 which at the time was reasonable. Now I dont think its going to happen. :phanvan

Misty, Good luck with your surgery! I think Dr. Carter uses AIGB for all their pre-op and approvals? I was just banded in May and couldnt be happier! AIGB was wonderful as well. Welcome to the board, it is a FABULOUS feeling to post your own pics to the pic thread. I look forward to it every month!

I weigh on my home scale first thing in the morning. I only log what it says in the morning, but then I dont weight myself other than that. I also only add to my log if the weight goes down, unless its my weekly weigh in. I am obsessed with my weight but more so with the way my clothes fit and how the monthly pics look!

Get your inspiration back first. Write down all the reasons you were so excited to get this surgery done. I know I told myself this is the last straw if I do this I am going to have to make changes in my life to make it work.Write down those reasonable changes that need to be made and stick to it. Stick to it for 2 weeks and you will see the results you desire which makes me want to do those things even more. The more I eat right and work out the more it becomes who I am and how I do things. Its no longer a struggle for me to eat right MOST of the time, or to go work out. I look forward to it now because I see that when I do these things the weight drops. When I slack off and I dont not much happens. That being said it is not always easy to make it to the gym, but it is a WHOLE lot easier going to the gym knowing this time I am going to see results. If you have enough restriction and you eat the proper foods first you wont have much room for the bad ones. I dont totally deprive myself of everything, if I want to have a cookie once in a while or have a taco on the weekend for dinner I do. I am a normal person not on a fad diet. Fills- get them, the band wont work empty for most people! The lap band is not a free ticket to eat what you want and sit on your couch. If you always do what you've always done youre going to get what you always got. Just because you fell off the wagon does not make you a failure. Pick yourself up, do what you have to do to make your band work for you, and get on your way to the goal you set when you got your surgery. You CAN do this if you put your mind to it. and by posting your honest feelings here I take that to mean you WANT it to work. So DO IT! See if your surgeon has an aftercare program and or support group as mentioned above. Good luck! I hope I dont come across as harsh... I just want you to realize you can succeed if you want to.

Melissa, I was having the same problem. My scale droped to 224 a few weeks ago and I was beyond excited. Then it crept back up to 227 even though I continued to work out and eat right. A few days ago I dropped down to 222! Just when I thought me and the scale were going to have it out once and for all. I am hoping to get another week or two of continued loss before it does this again. I hate it. But all the while my clothes have been looser and looser so I am happy no matter what the scale says.

Congratts on your weight loss and on giving in and going back to the doctor to get things going!